Government & Society

Fewer immigrants are choosing to make Michigan their new home, according to figures released by the Department of Homeland Security. Only Michigan and Wisconsin are experiencing a drop while other Midwest states show a steady growth. The nearly 5% decline is attributed to the poor job outlook, poor educational environment, and highly regulated and prohibitive sole proprietorship business environment in both states.

A saving grace to Michigan’s challenges in growing a contributing population base are the Chaldeans. “Michigan is just second to California in terms of its attraction of Iraqi immigrants,” said Kurt Metzger, director emeritus of Data Driven Detroit.
“Primarily the Chaldean community... established itself in metropolitan Detroit,” Metzger said. Studies from Data Driven Detroit reveals that the metro Detroit’s Chaldean population hovers well over 100,000 with a strong majority being entrepreneurs and professionals.

The hard working and highly professional base is helping Michigan considerably. Metzger emphasizes that maintaining, and attracting immigrants to the state is critical for revitalizing Michigan’s cities.

Rick Santorum greets the crowd at the St. William Dad Club 23rd Annual Lenter Fish Fry at St. William Catholic Parish in Walled Lake on Friday, February 24, 2012

Michigan, USA – U.S. Presidential candidates see Michigan as a game changer as they try to persuade voters for their support. “Mitt Romney, a former teen resident of Michigan, thought he all but had Michigan in his wallet. Quite an elitist and entitled mentality if you ask me,” says Calvin Denha. “Romney is in the pocket of politicians and really not for the people,” Denha adds.

Chaldeans are overwhelmingly turning towards Rick Santorum as their favored candidate. Chaldean community leaders and Chaldeans politically knowledgeable favor Santorum’s consistency, ability to work with both parties, and experience in government. Chaldean conservatives love Santorum for his values and integrity. Chaldean independents and entrepreneurs appreciate Santorum’s understanding of small business challenges and government overreach. The minority of Chaldean liberals even like Santorum for his fairness, statesmanship, and willingness to listen.

California, USA – “Chaldeans fortunate enough to make it to the land of milk and honey are getting a genuine swig of sour milk and crusty honey,” says Joseph Badoun. California, El Cajon officials have been in debate on how to deal with Chaldean senior citizens gathering to play cards. “This whole ordeal is a joke. These are men in their final years, many of who are church elders, and community fathers playing cards in a community center.”

Badoun may laugh-off the ordeal, but to Chaldean seniors the issue has been unsettling and stressful. El Cajon officials have launched aggressive crackdowns targeting Chaldeans and there gathering places. Calls to the Mayor’s office initially went unanswered as to the reason or motive behind the crackdowns.

Californai, USA - Chaldean leaders from around the world recently met in Rancho San Diego, California to discuss the ongoing challenges the Christians of Iraq continue to face. Frustrated over the lack of support and reluctance to support Christians of the Middle East, the representatives gathered to discuss options. Chaldean leaders from as far as Australia, Canada, UK, Syria, Jordon, Iraq, Lebanon, Egypt, Mexico, Norway, and the US made up over 15 countries of delegates. A historic gathering they called it. The first of its kind -- at least in modern memory, they said.

More than 300 people attended the local conference, which took place March 30 and April 1. Including Ambassador Peter Bodde, assistant chief with the U.S. Embassy in Iraq, spoke at the conference. Bodde told the group that the U.S. government is working to safeguard Chaldeans and other minority communities in Iraq. A U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state also attended, telling the group that the Obama administration has requested funds from Congress to promote the safety of Christians in Iraq.

Baghdad, IRAQ – The massacre of Iraqi Christians by Muslim fanatics sent cold shivers of shock across the Western world. “The heinous killing of women and infants shows what Islam is turning into,” says Fathel Barto, a Chaldean ambulance driver in Iraq through a translator. “They have become the poison of a snake killing helpless and defenseless women and babies for no reason. These people do not fight and they do not harm anyone. These ignorant and barbaric men have sinned against Islam. Any true believer of Mohammed would be just as mad and openly condemn them and who they are.”

Barto’s assumptions seem to have fallen on deaf ears as Muslim leaders and politicos remain silent and apathetic to what has come to be known as the Massacre of Martyrs. The attack on the congregation of Our Lady of Salvation Catholic Church was the bloodiest single attack on an Iraqi Christian church in recent history. The latest toll now reached nearly a hundred dead and 78 tragically wounded. Many of the dead and dreadfully wounded were women, toddlers, and small babies attending Sunday services.

American Chaldeans who have been calling on Washington DC have been turned away with sympathetic nods and comments of condolence. “They are snakes with forked tongues these politicians. All they do is talk and write letters showing they share our concern, but do nothing of substantial,” says David Kuza of Rochester, Michigan. “I voted for Gary Peters and Carl Levin. People in our community said these politicians can help us. Instead all they do is write hallmark letters. If they are serious about helping us let them take a stand by not voting or blocking any new legislation unless serious action is taken to protect Iraqi citizens.”

Washington DC, USA - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is championing her home state’s wine industry in an effort to defeat bill that would give states greater control over how Alcohol is distributed. The move is causing a battle on Capitol Hill as California winemakers are pitted against beer wholesalers and distributors. Pelosi and her wine caucus is working to stop the Comprehensive Alcohol Regulatory Effectiveness and by doing so, open the flood gate of out-of-state alcohol distribution via direct shipment.

Direct shipments of alcohol cut out the distributors and middlemen, allowing wineries to sell straight to customers who may have visited in person or browsed via the Internet. Wineries, in particular, have considered direct shipping across state lines a retail boon.

Many states enacted laws that either prohibited direct shipping or severely restricted it. “This legislation is urgently needed to help states defend against lawsuits that are motivated by economic gain … and are not in the best interest of the health, safety and welfare of the public,” Nida Samona, the chairwoman of the Michigan Liquor Control Commission, told a House panel recently. (To read Nida Samona's Testimony before the House CLICK HERE.)

Michigan, USA – “I hope the State Department is prepared to defend its position with hard facts. We are tired of hallow promises. Chaldeans have not seen any serious action from the U.S. about protecting the rights of minority in Iraq or helping the hundreds of thousands of refugees scattered across the world,” says Anthony Aboud of Sterling Heights, Michigan. “I pray every Chaldean concerned about what is happening in Iraq and what is happening to Chaldean refugees around the world joins me on June first.”

On Tuesday, June 1, 2010, from 6:30 – 8:30 p.m., Michael Corbin, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, Special Coordinator for Iraq's Minority Communities will be speaking at the American Polish Cultural Center located on 2975 E. Maple Road (corner of 15 Mile & Dequindre), Troy, MI 48083.

Chaldeans grip the cross bars as the roller coaster of their existence takes another steep and deadly plummet.

Baghdad, IRAQ – Yet another targeted religious execution of Iraqi Christians takes place in northern Iraq. An armed commando storms the neighborhood of al Saa, near the monastery of the Domincan fathers on a killing rampage killing 55 year old Chaldean businessman, Sabah Yacoub Gurgis. The well known entrepreneur owned an eyeglass factory, employing many Arabs and minorities in the city near the Tigris River.

Neighboring Christians are terrified that the killings will continue. The shooting is just the latest in a long trail of blood that has forced hundreds of Chaldean families to flee the city toward the plain of Nineveh or abroad. A spiral of violence that grew in the months preceding the parliamentary elections of March 7, so much so that Msgr. Emil Shimoun Nona, Chaldean archbishop of Mosul, spoke of an "Endless Via Crucis".

Iraqi Christians continue to escape the country as killings and religious persecutions intensify. “The election and Easter season has given the crazy killers motivation to wipe out all the Christians in Iraq,” says Husam Ashaki, who barely managed to survive the rampage killing in the city. “We are all trying to figure out how we can leave. We are not even safe in north. They follow us here and are very thirsty for Christian blood. No mater if it is a man, woman, or child. They kill even small children and babies if they know they are Christian.”

Baghdad, IRAQ – Iraqi Christians march in Mosul and Baghdad and hold prayer vigils in Kirkuk to draw attention to unending murders of minorities in Iraq. In recent weeks alone, minority men, women, and children have been abducted, killed, raped, harrased, and tortured. Those surviving have returned with ominous messages that Christians are no longer allowed to be in Iraq.

Mgr Emil Shimoun Nona of Mosul confirmed that hundreds of families have left Mosul in the last few days, about 600 in a community of some 4,000 people, according to a United Nations report. The prelate said, “about 400 families have escaped.”

Chaldean Catholic Archbishop Basile Georges Casmoussa of Mosul led over 1,000 Iraqi Catholics in a silent protest on February 28 to demand that the government act to put a stop to violence against Christians there.

The United Nations estimated that 683 Christians fled Mosul between February 20 and February 27. Chaldean Catholic Bishop Emil Shimoun Nona of Mosul estimated that "about 400 families" had left the city's community of 4,000 Christians.

“The daily massacre suffered by the Christian community … is met with indifference from the authorities,” said Archbishop Casmoussa on the eve of the march. “We will be fasting and praying for peace and for the survival of Christians.”

Iraq, Baghdad – National Review Online’s author, John F. Cullinan, calls into light the sorrowful predicament Chaldeans and other Iraqi Christian minorities have been forced to face. In his compelling article Cullinan highlights how Chaldeans continue to remain a casualty of American foreign policy - both by and under the leadership of then President Bush and equally now by current American President Obama.

Cullinan writes about how this small faithful group of Iraqi pacifist has greatly contributed to the tapestry of Iraq’s once great success in tolerance, understanding, and diplomacy is facing near extinction.

The American-led war in Iraq has savaged the native Iraqis. A group known for centuries as a root of hope for Iraq is being squashed with little or no sympathy or concern by America.

Florida, USA - If you ask the Clearwater BP gas station owner Karim Mansour, he will say they had a bone to pick with Cody and they won. Florida’s health department inspector says the dog will no longer be able to join his owner to work.

“Successful Chaldean business owners are known to fight for their employees. It is perhaps one of the biggest reasons as to why they are successful. You treat your workers great, they are loyal and work hard to make the business a success,” says Angela Yousif, a member of Clearwater areas Chamber of Commerce.

Mansour, received a warning from the Florida Department of Health on Thursday, informing him that Cody would have to go or all of the store's food - mostly bottled soda, candy and other snacks - would be declared unfit for consumption.

Michigan, USA – “It is hard enough to make a living in Michigan. Now we have to give up the right to protect ourselves when our lives are being threatened. This state is getting way out of control,” says Andrew Gabara, of Clinton Township.

Gabara’s comments are in light of the ongoing frustration Chaldeans in Clinton Township are feeling regarding the Nick’s Party Stop robbery. “This state is backward. They were protecting themselves form being robbed and now they are being sued. Where is the justice?”

Scott Zielinski, who was found guilty and sentenced to prison for the November 2007 robbing Nick’s Party Stop in Clinton Township sued the store owner and employees from prison for beating him up during the robbery. John Acho, and three employees including Acho's nephew Justin Kallo, who shot Zielinski twice were named in the suit.

Zielinski, 23, filed the lawsuit in April after he was shot while robbing the store on Cass Avenue, south of 19 Mile Road, near Chippewa Valley High School. Zielinski, wielding a knife and wearing a mask, entered the store about 7:30 p.m. Nov. 15, 2007, and demanded cash and cigarettes. As he fled out the front door carrying a bag of money and cigarettes, he was shot in the arm.

Baghdad, IRAQ — Iraqi Chaldeans site that the Najaf local government are playing politics with their lives and livelihood. “They are telling the people of Najaf that we are not worthy to live in the city, just to win votes,” says Dawood Abdel, a well known Chaldean political commentator in Iraq.

Local Iraqi authorities have outlawed alcohol in the province of Najaf, home to the holiest Shiite city, saying it contradicts the principles of Islam. The decision to ban the sale and consumption of alcohol highlights efforts by religious parties to win support with Shiite voters before crucial parliamentary elections this January are causing an alarming spike in attacks against Iraqi Christians.

Alcohol consumption is forbidden under Islam, and liquor stores have often been targeted by both Sunni and Shiite extremists in Iraq. The stores are widely owned and operated by Iraqi Christians, and the move by the Najaf provincial council is seen as credible proof of the fears among the Christian minority and secular Muslims that religious extremism is growing in the country.

The Najaf provincial council's decision followed a similar measure taken in August by authorities in the southern port city of Basra. Shortly after the measure in Basra, Christians were targeted and forced to leave the city.

Khalid al-Jashaami, a Najaf provincial council member says, "In order to protect the holiness of the holy city of Najaf, the provincial council of Najaf decided unanimously to ban the selling and transit of all kinds of alcohol." Al-Jashaami adds that violators will face trial.

The continual intimidation of Christians grow as Muslim extremist move into government roles, changing laws and justifying the seizure of Christian property. “They do this slowly and try to hide what they are doing. They attack any printing house that writes about the laws being written. They have burned the warehouses and kidnapped the family members. The police do nothing, but say we are investigating,” says Abdel.

Michigan, USA - “Chaldeans remain unsure about the sincerity and commitment of the current U.S. administration policies,” says Mathew Qashat, 26, of Wayne State University. The part-time law student rejected an invitation to join other Chaldean Christians, as well as Muslim Arabs, to hear CIA Director Leon Panetta speak. The outspoken law student has studied Middle Eastern affairs and plans on practicing international law. Qashat is fluent in three languages and stands to be the type of candidate the U.S. would want to appeal to as a new chapter in Middle Eastern diplomacy is being built.

“To me, it is a dog and pony show. What this administration needs to make clear is that they can be trusted. With each new administration we have promises being broken and backs being stabbed. Obama’s administration needs to show real tangible support, both in America and abroad in areas of security, economic recovery, and accountability.”

Panetta visited Dearborn in an effort to boost CIA recruitment efforts in Arab and Muslim communities, where the agency hopes to attract more applicants with Middle Eastern language and cultural expertise.

Michigan, USA – Chaldeans are outraged at the city of Dearborn and the Dearborn police department. “The police and city officials are cowards,” said a disgusted Yousif Salem. “They are afraid to defend the rights of this great country and their weakness shames every real American. I am an American citizen and my rights were stripped away because they are afraid. The Dearborn police and city are cowards. Arabs in Iraq and Iran are risking their lives for freedom and in Dearborn Michigan, American born wimps run and hide like cowards.”

Salem’s outrage comes on the heel of a court ruling prohibiting his friends from passing out Christian literature at the Dearborn Arab International festival. The 14th annual Dearborn Arab International Festival is expected to draw tens of thousands of visitors Friday through Sunday to the city that has the Detroit area's greatest concentration of Arab-Americans.

“We are upset with festival organizers. They have now tainted this once beautiful cultural festival as being un-American,” says Salem. “They are hurting Islamic Arabs as well as Christian Arabs by having the group thrown out. This is not good for Arab and American relations. There is only so much more Americans will take from these radicals in their own country.”

California, USA – Perhaps the older Chaldeans have trouble grasping the threats we face, but the first and second generation Chaldeans know it all too well, says Ann Bodagh. The Californian community activist says that America’s immune system is under attack. “American values are our country’s immune system. Values that teach us that lying, stealing, killing, and adultery are wrong are being torn apart. Now it is okay to routinely lie, steal worker’s pensions, kill the unborn or elderly, or sleep with anyone. These sorts of behavior are bankrupting America, financially, morally, and socially.”

Bodagh says you can see the social virus make its way to our countries value centers. “They have already taken over our public schools and now they want to close churches and silence religious teachers. America is becoming a socialist communist nation if we don’t fight back. All the Chaldeans that fled from countries that would not let you speak out when the government is doing something wrong better wise up. Otherwise you might as well by another plane ticket and choose your next country to run to.”

Bodagh says California is fighting back. The citizens of the golden state recently voted to cut spending and become more fiscally conservative. Citizens also voted to amend the state constitution to protect marriage between a man and a woman. “California has long been considered the land of fruits and nuts sees the writing on the wall. We are trying to clean-up the moral pollution. Unfortunately, the pollution is also growing in other states.”

Kirkuk, IRAQ – The disputed lands of Kirkuk continue to foster hostilities as the three major factions of Iraq pound Christian minorities in order to seize property and lay claim to the oil rich lands. Although Iraq is the native home to the Chaldean Catholic Church, one of the oldest Christian churches in the world, hundreds of thousands of Christians have been forced to flee since the US-led invasion of March 2003. “Our people are easy targets. Iraqi Christians are the Tibetans of the Middle East. We are peaceful,” says John Anwya. “These cowards attack Iraq’s native people.”

In northern Iraq a Christian missionary and teacher Namir Nadhim Gourguis, has been freed after just over a week in captivity, according to the Catholic missionary news agency Asia news.

Gourguis was well known in the community and loved. Mediation by tribal chiefs and local imams led to Gourguis' release just over a week after he was abducted by a gunmen last Thursday at an elementary school near the northern oil city of Kirkuk.

California, USA – United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) this week revised its guidelines about Iraqi refugees, scaling down the categories of Iraqis that it says should be granted asylum in all cases. Central Iraq remains unstable, and refugees from those provinces should be granted asylum, the UNHCR said. Those provinces include Baghdad, Diyala and Ninevah.

Andrew Harper, who leads the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees operation in Iraq, says Chaldeans and other ethnic and religious minorities in Iraq should receive asylum from Western countries.

Michigan, USA – “Isn’t it curious that they always move into areas where there is a high population of African Americans and the poor. They don’t care about helping families. They care about making sure that those they consider the leeches of society don’t reproduce,” says Mary Khami a member of Chaldeans4Life in Southfield.

Planned Parenthood opened two new centers in minority dense areas of Detroit and Warren and now wishes to add a third center in Pontiac Michigan. Planned Parenthood continues to face challenges after internal workers and undercover investigative reporters’ revealed Planned Parenthoods bias towards targeting the abortion of minority babies.

www.BlackGenocide.org states on their website that “Planned Parenthood is the largest abortion provider in America. 78% of their clinics are in minority communities. Blacks make up 12% of the population, but 35% of the abortions in America. Are we being targeted? Isn't that genocide? We are the only minority in America that is on the decline in population. If the current trend continues, by 2038 the black vote will be insignificant. Did you know that the founder of Planned Parenthood, Margaret Sanger, was a devout racist who created the Negro Project designed to sterilize unknowing black women and others she deemed as undesirables of society? The founder of Planned Parenthood said, "Colored people are like human weeds and are to be exterminated." Is her vision being fulfilled today?”

Khami is outraged that Planned Parenthood is attempting to move into another minority dominated impoverished city in Michigan. “They prey on weak minorities who are unable to defend themselves. They spend a significant amount of money on buying politicians and spend practically nothing on offering alternative options to abortion. This is a modern day holocaust.”

Jaramana, SYRIA – The conditions in Iraq are vastly improving, but ignored in the up-beat news of Iraq’s road to recovery is the struggling plight of Iraqi Christians that remain targets and disenfranchised minority. Iraqi refugees throughout the region have become increasingly desperate. Despite a decline in violence in Iraq, only a small number have gone home, often because their resources are exhausted. Of those who returned to Iraq, many found their property occupied and suffered secondary displacement.

The international community has been largely in denial over the disastrous humanitarian situation in Iraq, and has until recently seen Iraq through the prism of reconstruction and development, and failed to address urgent needs. Only recently has the United Nations issued a common humanitarian appeal for Iraq, recognizing the nature of the situation and the need for all agencies to address humanitarian needs. Nonetheless, the call by the U.N. remains largely ignored.

The vulnerable displaced Iraqis who have fled their homes for safer locations are unable to access their food rations and often unemployed, they live in squalid conditions, have run out of resources and find it extremely difficult to access essential services. “The US, the government of Iraq and the international community must begin to address the consequences of leaving Iraqis’ humanitarian needs unmet,” says Talal Lazar, a Chaldean advisor to the Jordanian embassy on Middle Eastern Christians.

As a result of the vacuum created by the failure of both the Iraqi Government and the international community to act in a timely and adequate manner, individuals will play a major role in providing assistance to vulnerable Iraqis.

Baghdad, IRAQ – What many Chaldeans have feared in the U.S. Presidential debate has come true. “We know if America leaves they will come and kill us. They think we have something to do with them and they think we have money. The Iraqi government is happy if all Christians leave. They say they want us to stay, but they don’t mean it. If they mean it, then they would protect us more,” says Masoud Gallozi.

In the past few days Iraq Christians have been targeted for slaughter. The murder of four Christians across Iraq in just two days is raising concern among churches there that another round of religious cleansing has begun.

Chaldean Monsignor Sako warns that US troop pullout is likely to plunge the country in a “civil war.” Between 31 March and 4 April five Christians are murdered in Kirkuk, Baghdad and Mosul. The prelate calls on the faithful to pray during Holy Week so “that the blood of our martyrs may restore peace.”

Chaldeans in America are frustrated over President Obama’s handling of the Middle East issues. “There were many Chaldeans fooled into believing the new administration would pressure the Iraqi government to get serious about properly protecting Chaldeans. These Chaldeans sent an e-mail of a letter by Obama and his people showing he was concerned. It was just another lie from this man. A lie that is leaving our people vulnerable. Those who supported him are partly to blame,” a frustrated James Selmu declares.

GERMANY - Germany has long fought for the protection of war refugees and has taken their cases to the EU on numerous occasions. Germany has agreed to resettle 2,500 Iraqi refugees, said the Amman office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Tuesday, March 10, adding that 2,000 would come from Syria and 500 from Jordan.

The first batch of refugees will be soon leaving Jordan for resettlement in Germany, Dana Bajjali, a spokeswoman for the UNHCR office in Amman told DPA news agency without indicating the precise date of their departure. Around 120 Christian refugees from Iraq arrived in Germany on Thursday in search of a better and safer future away from the turmoil of their home country.

Amnesty International's Julia Duchrow explains that the successful asylum applicants have a clean criminal record and can not have been members of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's Baath party. Single mothers, those suffering from post-traumatic stress and people with ties to Germany also had a greater chance of having their application for asylum approved, she added.

Michigan, USA – “In Iraq if you show any Christian religious symbol in front of your home they send you a letter or take you to court. How is this management company any different than those that threaten and oppress Christians in third world, communist, and fascist countries,” says Andrew Abdel.

Abdel is incensed at the Tolgate Woods Homeowners association in Novi who has sent a letter asking the Samona family to remove a virgin statue from their front lawn. A statue that has adorned the home since 2004. The Samona family is well known in the Chaldean community. Farouk Samona is a deacon (Shamasha) at the Chaldean Cathedral in Michigan and both his wife and son are active parishioners in women and youth ministry.

This is the second time the family has been harassed by the homeowner association for their faith. The first time was back in 2004 during Christmas when the family was sent a letter demanding the removal of their nativity scene.

California, USA – Local convenient store owners in the El Cajon and the San Diego area feel safer. Jeda Athra, a mother of three teenagers works long hours with her husband at a corner retail store says she is happy to see the police and prosecuting attorneys taking a stronger stance against crime. “They need to clean-up the criminals from the streets and let everyone know that holding-up a store in our town means you will go to jail.”

Athra’s husband adds, “Our state is bankrupt which means more crime and more problems. We need police to scare bad people away from here before they kill anyone else. Look at those two evil criminals that now face the death penalty. It does not pay to hurt people in our city.”

The convenient store couple refer to the Thanksgiving bandits. Franko “Dopes” Bernal and Samuel Thomas “Tommy” McCauley, 21 face a death sentence or life in prison for gunning down store workers in 2006.

Baghdad, IRAQ - Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki attended the inaugural re-opening of Iraq’s National Museum. “The opening is another sign of Iraq’s stabilization,” says Thair Yatooma, of the Iraqi Citizen Council of Art, an advisory group of the National Museum. “The opening of the National Museum in Baghdad is a message from the government to foreign tourists: you are welcome."

The Prime Minister cut the ribbon at the official reopening saying, "We have ended the black wind (of violence) and have started the reconstruction process." This morning, the first tourists entered the museum: for now, only guided tours for groups are allowed; it will take time to reopen the museum to private citizens.

However, some say the Museum must bring the Christian history of Iraq back into the light. The National Museum had a long standing policy of prohibiting any display of Christian art to the general public. The section dedicated to the Christian community could be visited only by foreign tourists; it was not accessible to Arab Iraqis. “The Christian presence is profound, deeply grounded, setting down roots over centuries; Saddam Hussein may have protected it, he always concealed it from the eyes of ordinary citizens" says Yatooma.

Toronto, CANADA – “The tragic irony is that the Chaldean families leave a country of death, persecution and oppression hoping for a better life for them and their children. Sadly, so many Chaldeans are being killed in their place of work or by being in the wrong place at the wrong time as in this situation,” says Alvin Sako.

Sako is referring to the death of Mark Shaba, 19, of Rexdale, runned over on Oct. 21, 2007, in a dispute in the parking lot of Arizona Bar and Grill on Carlingview Dr. The court preceding concluded with the electrician apprentice Gagan Deep Singh, 26, pleading guilty to criminal negligence causing the death.

Singh ran over the only Son of the Shaba family, a teenage kitchen cabinet painter, with a Ford Explorer after a dispute outside the bar.

Mosul, IRAQ – “We have to go vote. Our love for our country makes us go and vote,” says Ibtissam Bazzi, an Iraqi Christian woman eager to cast her vote. Christians in Iraq remain an oppressed minority and a group still under constant threat. With the provincial elections underway, Iraq’s Christian minority find themselves between a rock and a hard place.

The Iraqi natives have faced centuries of violence. From conquering Arab armies, the first world war genocide of the Ottoman empire (present day Turkey), to mass killings from al-Qaida in Iraq and other Islamic extremists. Including the Kurds who have been slowly and systematically attempting to take and control land once owned by Christians.

In the northern city of Mosul and surrounding areas the Kurds have been using their own militia to sieze more of Iraq into their semiautonomous region. The issue came to the fore in Saturday's vote for members of ruling councils in most of Iraq's 18 provinces.

Illinois, USA – The University of Chicago joins a handful of other colleges in their effort to create a cohabitation campus. The college will now allow a male student to sleep in the same room with an unrelated female student.

Amy Batuo says the school has essentially become a whore house and is considering transferring. “I am not going to pay them to help students hook-up. There is going to be so many reputations and lives ruined. They have gone way into left field on this one.”

This is not the first time the school has sent shock waves for its stance on sexual promiscuity and promotion. The campus Student Health and Wellness Fee, which all registered students pay, covers regular contraceptive items like condoms and lubricants. All are available at its Student Care Center including what the center calls "Emergency contraception.”

California, USA – “Chaldeans who voted for him should be ashamed of themselves. When will people learn that what goes around comes around? Like the Nazis who supported eugenics and the killing of the useless and unwanted, so too goes America with this President,” says Ashley Bashi.

Barack Obamaa has plans to reward the allies that helped him topple Hillary Clinton and seize the presidency by making total unrestricted abortion in the United States his number one priority as president. Nonetheless, some Chaldeans think abortion is a religious issue or only a disagreement to overlook with the controlling Democrat party.

“It is sad that some in the Chaldean community think abortion is a religious issue. Our entire society is based on morals and values. If we don’t value the innocent, the old, unproductive, weak, or poor of our society, how much longer before we begin to make decisions to eliminate them,” says Dr. Hiba Hannou, a leading Chaldean medical researcher in reproductive science. “How much longer before we say those that are not smart or unproductive must also be killed.”

Baghdad, IRAQ – “You have to break a few eggs to make an omelet,” says Nadine Hemra, of Chicago Illinois. The light at the end of Iraq’s tunnel seems to be getting brighter. Hemra is delighted at the news that the Iraqi death toll has dropped below pre-Saddam era, income for professionals has increased 400 times, utility services are becoming more reliable, and non-Muslim religious tolerance is growing.

When challenged as to why her friends were unwilling to give Iraq a chance Hemra says, “My friends are weak and afraid of having to sacrifice for the good of others or the future. The media has led them to believe there was no hope in Iraq. I believe Iraq will rebuild itself into one of the strongest nations in the Middle East. Then my friends will have to admit Bush did the right thing in liberating the country. America lost many good people in the fight to be free from England. Wouldn’t you say, as the benefactor of the revolution that the fight was worth it?”

It would have been unfathomable only a few months earlier. However, this past Saturday floating in the sky above Baghdad glides along a huge multi-colored hot-air balloon bearing a large poster of Jesus Christ. Below it, an Iraqi flag.

Santa and his helpers stand under palm trees at Baghdad's first public Christmas festival.

California, USA – Chaldeans in California grow worrisome as the state’s debt skyrockets. “They will tax the people to death in this state,” says Abrahim Bajoka, owner of an Arco Gas Station. “Tax! Tax! Tax! The more money they take from us the less we can grow, hire new people, or buy new products to sell. This is basic business. What is wrong with this state?”

Bajoka’s aggravation is not rare. Taxpayer groups in the “Fruit & Nut” state are also fuming and vowing to go to court to initiate a referendum to halt nearly $10 billion in recent tax increases Democrats passed in a secret special session last Thursday.

Lawmakers across the nation are shocked at the extraordinary parliamentary maneuver. California Democrats circumvented a constitutional provision requiring a two-thirds vote in the state legislature to raise taxes by using their simple majority. “What they are telling small business owners is that we don’t want you in our state,” says Bajoka. “The hard workers get taxed and the lazy get fed. This is all wrong.”

So which are the best low-tax states welcoming new business leaders and encouraging economic growth? Just follow the trail of Chaldeans….

London, UK – Lord Alton called for the government in the north of Iraq to return land that had been seized from minority groups. "The Kurdish Regional Government needs to ensure a swift and complete return of Christian homes, land and property that has been misappropriated ­ which includes 58 Christian villages taken by Kurds.

"How The Kurdish and Iraqi authorities treat their minorities ­ including Christians, Yezidis, and Mandaeans ­ will be a test of their determination to create a tolerant society respectful of difference."

Around 90 people packed into a House of Lords' committee room to attend a hearing about the crisis currently facing minorities in Iraq.

A statement from the Syriac and Chaldean Churches read out at the meeting similarly sounded a note of caution about the direction the country was taking: "It seems that Iraq is one step closer to becoming an Islamic state intolerant to non-Muslims".

California, USA – “They think they can bring back their ratings by fanning stereotypes and prejudices. They are purposely picking on Chaldeans and Jews hoping to get better ratings. NBC is using a strategy that is harmful and sick,” says Jenna Bittis of California.

The Chaldean woman is upset over NBC’s new pseudo-reality show. “They deliberately place outspoken and flamboyant mothers against insecure bimboes craving attention in their latest whorish hook-up show,” says Bittis. “NBC is dead and desperately reaching at anything to try and make a come-back.”

Momma's Boys, the NBC dating-show-with-a-twist from Ryan Seacrest seems to have both Jewish and Chaldean viewers upset. The show attempts to make a statement about prejudice using two middle aged overprotective mothers of implied Jewish and Chaldean descent unintelligently defending their wishes. Obviously the shows producers are orchestrating outbursts for ratings in a Jerry Springer like fashion simply for ratings.

"The sparks soon fly!" as the ad promotes when Khalood Bojanowski, a Michigan Iraqi Catholic mom says she needs her son to end up with a white Catholic girl: no black, Asian, Muslim or Jewish bachelorettes need apply. Another bachelor's mom, Esther, is a stereotypical smothering-Jewish mom, right down to the Yiddishisms, the kvelling over her "mensch" son and the Coffee Talk accent. This rubs many of the girls the wrong way and with contestants encouraged to put on a good show for the reality cameras – the Jerry Springer like attacks begin.

The aftermath is a viewer conditioned to believe the over-the-top Chaldean and Jewish stereotypes.

New York, USA – Chaldeans and Assyrians in American are appalled at Christie’s Auction House of New York. “They are war profiteers moving the spoils of war,” says Chaldean art collector Enas Namoo from his downtown Chicago office. The Chaldean art collector, well known for his Mediterranean art collection, was furious for what he saw in the catalog of the ancient art and antiquities auction at Christie's next week. Among the collection was a pair of neo-Assyrian earrings established as artifacts of Mesopotamia. “This belongs in the museum, not on an auction block,” said a angered Namoo.

Along with Namoo, Iraqi authorities have also appealed to have the pair of neo-Assyrian earrings returned. The 9,000–10,000-year-old earrings are expected to bring in up to $65,000, but Iraqi officials say they are part of the treasures of Nimrud and thus rightfully the property of Iraq.

Chaldean archeologist, art curator, antiquity expert, and former director of the Iraq Museum Donny George says, “I am 100 percent sure they are from the same tombs from Nimrud. I witnessed the excavation."

Illinois, USA - Mariam Shamoon, a longtime Chicagoan, active in her church and surrounded by family, who admired her for her vibrant lifestyle despite advanced years. Sunday night, Shamoon, 78, met a tragic fate, cut down by a car.

Around 5 p.m., Mariam Shamoon was returning from a day of Christmas shopping near her apartment building in the 6300 block of North Kedzie Avenue. As she crossed West Devon Avenue only half a block from her front door, a car turning right on a green light from Kedzie onto Devon struck and killed her.

California, USA – One Chaldean family hopes to find closure after murder suspect is arrested for killing their son. Jeremy Allen Wessels, 32, is charged with the shooting death of David Binno, 24, in Binno's Spring Valley apartment in September 1994. The apartment theft of gold jewelry and murder may lead to the death penalty.

Two men accused of murdering their Chaldean friend in 1994 joked beforehand of killing him “for the heck of it,” a former girlfriend testified yesterday.

El Cajon Superior Court Judge Herbert J. Exarhos ruled there was sufficient evidence to try Wessels with the special-circumstance allegation that Binno was gunned down during a burglary.

Damascus, SYRIA - Sawsan Hussin was worried about her son, Mustafa. The 10-year-old had brought the horror of Iraq with him when the family fled to Syria.

He had nightmares and would cower at the slightest noise, his hands over his ears. Hussin knew he needed help, but as the refugee family's savings ran out, there was no money to pay for professional help.

Then a fellow refugee, a Christian friend who had been resettled in Canada, told Hussin by e-mail that she should take her son to see the Sisters of the Good Shepherd, who run a variety of services for Iraqis in Syria. Hussin, a Muslim, did just that, and the sisters got the boy into therapy.

Hussin praises the work of a particular Good Shepherd nun, who asked to remain anonymous because of the sensitive nature of her work.

Baghdad, IRAQ - The Christians of Iraq were shocked when Muslims started trying to drive the Christians of Mosul out of their homes in early October, an Iraqi bishop told Vatican Radio after meeting Pope Benedict XVI.

The Pope told the bishop: "Iraq is in our hearts. We constantly remember the Christians, praying for them and for peace in the country."

Chaldean Auxiliary Bishop Shlemon Warduni of Baghdad met the Pope on November 26 at the end of the Pope's weekly general audience.

Michigan, USA – On this day of gratitude, commonly referred to as Thanksgiving, Chaldeans help show the spirit of good will and giving. Chaldeans throughout the metro-Detroit area are once again out in full force helping their neighbors this thanksgiving. Chaldean churches, businesses, and Chaldean charity organizations will be giving out well over a thousand turkeys and side foods to needy families. Chaldean churches and groups like the Chaldean American Ladies of Charity, Chaldean Teens Coming Together, and Chaldean American Professionals plan on distributing thanksgiving meals and turkeys.

Other Chaldean charity groups like UR of the Chaldees are buying grocery for seniors who live alone. Adopt-A-Refugee-Family is raising funds to help needy refugee families scattered throughout the world. The Newcomers group is taking underprivileged youth out on field trips. Chaldean grocery stores and restaurants are also helping.

Danny Yono, owner of J's Kabob restaurant will provide free Thanksgiving feasts for anyone who can’t afford a meal with the trimmings or doesn’t want to eat alone. From 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday, J’s Kabob, 2941 Coolidge, Berkley, will host its second annual free Thanksgiving Day dinner. Anyone can get a carryout of turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn and rolls.

Michigan, USA – These are undoubtedly desperate times. The economy in the U.S. is on the decline and Michigan’s economy has drifted far to the center of thin ice. Some are blaming Michigan’s political leaders for their mismanagement and high taxes, others fault the unions for their greedy self-interest. The rhetoric is tiresome. Finger pointing does little to help. So who can we turn to model the leadership we all desperately seek? The Chaldean American Ladies of Charity, affectionately known as CALC.

We may think we have it tough, but CACL volunteers will be quick help correct our perceptions should we wallow in self-pity or fictional misery. CALC has seen some of the most desperate and in need. Instead of blaming others or complaining, CALC leaders went to work. They have been diligently working to fill a portable on demand storage (PODS) of common goods to help those in need. Today and tomorrow (Saturday, Nov 23 and Sunday, Nov 24) are the last two days of a month long campaign of collecting items to help the needy.

In the parking lot of St. Thomas Chaldean Catholic Church in West Bloomfield, Michigan a large PODS container sits in the parking lot. Donors are asked to please help those in need by bringing new or good conditioned blankets, comforters, sheets, pillows, and mattress pads and dropping them into the storage truck.

California, USA – The news on California defense of marriage proposal passing is causing a ruckus. So www.CHALDEAN.org returned for reactions from three friends, Gina Ateek, Jonathan Shayota, and Ira Davidson were interviewed on the proposal. The three were still at odds over the issue. The three friends are not the only ones arguing over the passage of the proposal. Many of the arguments have reached violent levels.

The nation was shocked when images of an old lady being surrounding, intimidated, threatened, shoved, pushed, and spat upon, while other protestors try to cover the abuse instead of helping the old lady. Another woman is assaulted and beaten with her own bible as police witness the crime, but fail to arrest the gay assailants. Envelopes are sent to churches in Utah with white anthrax-like power. In Colorado bibles are burnt and thrown at churches. In Michigan, gay activist storm a church cursing, throwing papers, and screaming “it’s okay to be gay,” eyewitnesses tell reporters. Video surveillance of the crime shows parishioners stunned and worried with fear as the perpetrators attack the house of worship.

“These are communist and Gestapo type tactics,” says Jonathan Shayota, a leading Chaldean supporter of the proposal. “Gay activist are trying to ruin people by creating a black-list of individuals who supported defending marriage between one man and one woman.” Gay activist defend the list and ignore claims their online lists are being used to violently target those who defend marriage. “What they say is that they have a responsibility to let the world know who the people are and if they get harassed, intimidated, or attacked they can’t stop that or police every gay supporter,” says Shayota. “I am on some of the lists and have already received harassing phone calls.”

“Why should it bother you if gays are allowed to marry,” says Ira Davidson, frustrated over the ballot measure passing and the uncontrollable violence of gay protestors. Gina Ateek is more than happy to refute that gay marriage is harmless and gives her reasons why most Americans are against gay marriage.

gan, USA – St. Joseph Chaldean Catholic Church in Troy, Michigan continues to host an array of services for refugee assistance. Along with English classes, school tutoring for children, and family support services the church campus will now feature special workshops geared to refugee families.

“The love and help for us at St. Jospeh and all the churches, makes me thank God every second,” says Habiba Yousip through a translator. “If it was not for our Church we would all be dead.”

The workshops provide informative sessions to help refugee arrivals transition to life in the United States. Sessions include knowing your neighbor, taxes and financial planning, keeping your children safe, apartment living, senior housing, food safety, and disaster preparedness.

Baghdad, IRAQ – After ongoing threats, attacks, and kidnappings Chaldean seminarians, students, and staff fled the centuries old Pontifical Babel College in Baghdad. Abandoning the building to safer territory in northern Iraq, the staff had no choice says the dean of the college.

A short while after, U.S. military occupied the building as a “combat outpost” and fortified base of operations for the 4th Cavalry Squadron of the First Mechanized Infantry Division, and then by the 2nd Squadron of the 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment.

The controversial move by the U.S. military fueled Iraqi Christian conspiracies of collaboration between Chaldeans and the United States. Radical Islamic leaders used the building as evidence to further persecute Christians as conspirators. Although Iraqi Christians were innocent in the taking of the building, the appearance was enough to recruit hundreds of terrorists and cause animosity between Iraqi Christians and fanatical foreign Muslims.

The following is the first of a three-part series on the 2008 Elections. In the next two weeks we will deal with issues of Culture and Conscience.

Now that the election is over, we can separate the real Catholics from those who just act the part. Those still reeling from the results of the election can rest assured that they are in good company with the saints.

Those who have drawn a line in blood and made a decision to stand with the culture of death need a serious examination of conscience.

Now look at what we’ve done to ourselves. America has made her “choice” for maximum leader and it is not pretty. In fact, it is one of the most devastating blows to American civilization that we have ever undergone, and I do not speak in hyperbole. Even such a saintly figure as Mother Theresa said that “a nation that kills its children has no future;” likewise, an authority like Fr. Benedict Groeschel recently commented that we have entered into “the beginning of the twilight” of our country—dire words that touch on the reality of electing the most extreme, pro-abortion candidate America has ever had the misfortune of occupying the highest office of our land.

Florida, USA – “The family is the nucleus of society. When it is weakened or destroyed, we all pay,” says Jenny Jabril, a Chaldean nurse in Florida’s Orange County. “We all pay when families break-down or fail. We the people, deal with the dysfunction. Our taxes go up to care for the abandoned or misguided children, our education system spins out of control, we pay more to prevent crimes, protect our families, or hospitalize these people.”

Jabril is frustrated over the increased number of substance abuse. In Florida law, citizens can be held against their will under the Marchman Act. Individuals whose substance abuse makes them a threat to themselves or others can be held at a mental-health facility for up to five days while physicians evaluate them.

Jerry Kassab, president and chief executive officer of Lakeside Alternatives, Orange County's receiving center, said his facility receives about 20 patients a day who are committed under the law. There are three scenarios in which someone can be committed under the Marchman Act.

In Orange County, Kassab said, most patients are taken to Lakeside by law enforcement officers. "The most common instance is when someone's out on the street who's acting up, or the police might be called by a store owner because someone's acting up or acting weird," Kassab said. "You also get instances when one family member calls the police because someone in their family is out of control."

In 2004 a group of United States Bishops, acting on behalf of the USCCB and requesting counsel about the responsibilities of Catholic politicians and voters, received a memo from the office of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the future Pope Benedict XVI, which stated:

“A Catholic would be guilty of formal cooperation in evil, and so unworthy to present himself for Holy Communion, if he were to deliberately vote for a candidate precisely because of the candidate’s permissive stand on abortion and/or euthanasia." In short, you are not in communion with Christ or His church if you vote for a candidate who supports abortion more.

This declaration raised a number of questions. The following 8 answers might offer greater clarity.

California, USA – The results are in for the www.CHALDEAN.org voter knowledge survey. The survey was created to register Chaldean voter knowledge of the presidential campaign and extrapolate which presidential candidate would best address the needs of Chaldeans.

Dr. James Brothman, psychometric expert and president of Brothman Research, created the survey for www.CHALDEAN.org. A psychometric survey is a more sophisticated method than the traditional polls that ask respondents who they plan to vote for in the election. The scientific survey reveals that not every issue carries the same weight of importance to a voter, nor does every voter prioritize the issues in the same way.

“We create a scientific survey that captures issue concerns and matches the concern to the candidate that would best meet the respondents need. We do not ask who they are voting for or why. Instead we apply a reverse engineering process that filters out emotions. We ask what issues are important to you and how important are those issues to you. Based on the information we receive are able to determine who the respondents would vote for if they are truly voting on issues only. The difference between the survey results and the actual voting results tells us how much campaign marketing influenced the vote.”

Based on Dr. Brothman’s research of Chaldean voter respondents, 88% of the Chaldean community should vote for McCain / Palin if they are driven by the issues important to them.

Dr. Brothman also reveals the leading issues important to Chaldeans this election.

California, USA – Chaldeans in California and Michigan are eager to vote on their state ballot initiatives. In California an effort to prohibit or allow homosexual marriage is on the ballot as proposition 8. In Michigan, the statewide ballot is asking voters to either allow or reject the use of marijuana (proposal1) and embryo research (proposal 2).

“Chaldeans in California and Michigan should understand that all three of these issues are very important. The cost to Chaldeans and America is very high if gay marriage is allowed, embryos are killed for research, or drugs are made legal,” says Ann Bodagh, of El Cajon. “Chaldeans need to work together to prevent America from slipping even further.”

Bodagh’s opinion is the majority, but liberal corporations, like Apple computers and Levi Straus jeans are throwing big money to help fund the passing of proposition 8. In Michigan, drug companies, the DNC, and Planned Parenthood are hoping marijuana use and embryo research get passed.

California, USA – An unlikely duo seem to breaking through the information blackout of Iraq’s desperate situation. Contrary to news coverage that Iraq is healing, few if any major media outlets are covering Iraq’s minority persecution.

Chaldean Catholic Cardinal Emmanuel-Karim Delly of Baghdad, Iraq, expressed sadness over what he viewed as a chronic lack of concern and concrete action to stop the violence and protect all of Iraq's citizens. Greater attention and pressure are needed so that the Iraqi government can "be just and fulfill its duty toward its citizens," he said.

Echoing the Cardinal’s call urging everyone to help call attention to the injustice, Chaldean star rapper Timz, winner of the Hollywood Film Festival's "Video of the Year" and nominee for the MTV Video Music Awards' "Video of the Year," releases another hip-hop masterpiece titled “Do Something.” A powerful call to action that begins with a hypnotic beat mixed with middle eastern flair beginning with a message from Timz himself to “Change the world, not the channel.”

If you do not have any such doubt, have you any doubt that it is an innocent human being?

If you have no doubt about this either, have you any doubt that the authorities in a civilized society are duty-bound to protect this innocent human being if anyone were to wish to kill it?

If your answer to this last query is negative, that is, if you have no doubt that the authorities in a civilized society would be duty-bound to protect this innocent human being if someone were to wish to kill it, I would suggest—even insist—that there is not a lot more to be said about the issue of abortion in our society. It is wrong, and it cannot—must not—be tolerated.

But you might protest that all of this is too easy. Why, you might inquire, have I not delved into the opinion of philosophers and theologians about the matter? And even worse: Why have I not raised the usual questions about what a "human being" is, what a "person" is, what it means to be "living," and such?

People who write books and articles about abortion always concern themselves with these kinds of things. Even the justices of the Supreme Court who gave us "Roe v. Wade" address them. Why do I neglect philosophers and theologians? Why do I not get into defining "human being," defining "person," defining "living," and the rest?

Illinois, USA – “The hypocrisy of this candidate is clear. He can not be trusted,” says Dani Jopa. “He promises to accept public financing, then doesn’t. He votes one way, and says he didn’t. He tells everyone he doesn’t accept lobbyist money, he does. He says he will oppose going after illegal immigrants, then says let’s get them. He wanted to put an end to the Cuban embargo, and then tells Cuban exiles in Florida we will keep the embargo. He is untrustworthy. He is a panderer. He is what I have come to hate about politicians in America.”

Jopa’s strong feelings resonate with half the country. Many agree that Obama should be well over 30 points ahead of McCain given the circumstances. Instead the two candidates are neck-and-neck. “By his own admission he and his running mate tell the American people he is not ready to be president,” Jopa adds, referring to the latest dust-up over Obama’s naiveté and lack of experience.

Biden created a uproar with his implication to a crowd of deep-pocket donors that presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama's lack of experience would create an appearance of weakness that would encourage opponents to challenge the U.S. According to news reports, Biden told the crowd of donors, "Mark my words: It will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy.

Angie Kassab agrees with Biden, “he was only repeating what Obama himself said. He is not prepared to serve.”

California, USA - The controversial presidential campaign has raised a number of issues about democracy. Concerns of voter registration and voter fraud list highest among the concerns. However, what seems to have captured the attention of most Americans is media bias. Calls by the Clintons and McCain campaigns of media bias in favor of Obama have proven accurate and some want the media meddling investigated for impacting national security. The latest being an NBC blackout of Biden’s guarded warning of dire attacks against the United States if Obama is elected.

Media bias has also drawn the attention of UCLA political science major, Julie Kalasho. “I have a relative in Michigan who openly is using his radio station to support Obama,” says Kalasho. “He got into some big trouble in the past with his political fund raising for Republicans and the Democrats scared him into supporting Obama. So I know first hand how the media is being used to influence politics. He openly admits he wants Obama to win and is trying to scare naïve Chaldeans to vote for Obama or they may be doomed.”

Kalasho sites fellow colleague Tim Groseclose, a UCLA political scientist who co-authored a UCLA-led study, which is believed to be the first successful attempt at objectively quantifying bias in a range of media outlets and ranking them accordingly.

The objective findings may shock some, while others see it as vindication of what many have long been complaining about. The reports finding objectively concludes that almost all major media outlets are biased towards the left.

Mosul, IRAQ— Shocking the conscience of anyone who would dare pay a few minutes of attention, Christians are being mowed down in Mosul. Community activists in Australia, England, US, Denmark, and Germany are begging world governments to do more than talk. Activists are protesting in front of city halls, holding meetings, getting petitions signed, attempting any and all efforts to raise the awareness and conscience of world leaders, turning a blind eye to the genocide of Iraqi Christians.

Nearly 10,000 Christians — roughly half the city's Christian population — have fled this month because of organized and targeted threats and attacks, according to Iraqi officials. Christians in Iraq are fast losing faith and trust with the Iraq government. Few Iraqi Christians are returning to the restive city of Mosul despite government pledges of financial support and protection, officials said Wednesday.

Attempts to bribe families back into the city have fallen on deaf ears. The prime minister offered every Christian family that returns to Mosul 1 million Iraqi dinars — about $865, said Jawdat Ismaeel, a local migration official. But less than a handful of Christians have returned, he said.

Michigan, USA - Presidential hopeful John McCain is fast gaining momentum as more voters discover Obama's recipe for America. Obama was caught off-guard by a middle class plumber who helped reveal the disaster of Obama's tax plan, something the McCain campaign team says the media blackout is keeping them from doing. "It took 'Joe the Plumber' to show that Obama can't be trusted," says Iman Nalou, of Farmington Hills, Michigan. "I have many neighbors who were going to vote for Obama, and after hearing what he is really about, they all changed their minds."

Obama is worried as more of the truth emerges. He never wants to tell you the whole story, and the lies have Obama's campaign on the ropes as political pundits dig deeper into Obama's policies and find quite a bit of flip-flopping and hypocrisy. From promising to take public financing to the election to his stance on Iraq, Obama is losing ground on the trust factor.

For Issam Hanou of Novi, MI, Obama lost his vote a long time ago. "He lies and can't be trusted. How could you believe anything he says he is going to do when he lies? You can't trust him. He will promise you anything and give you some excuse why he breaks his promise." Hanou is really upset over Obama's Iraqi flip-flops. Hanou says a youtube video that his son showed him was really frustrating. Hanou's son Gino, a college student at Ohio State has long distrusted Obama. "I liked what he had to say early in his campaign about ending the Iraqi war, but he kept saying different things. I finally took the time to do some searching and what I found out was how much of a liar he really is."

Michigan, USA – Chaldean business owners are disappointed over continued efforts to stain independent grocers. “This is bad. These people don’t speak for us. Our produce and foods are fresh. This is just another way to take money from stores owners and give them nothing in return,” says Kamal Dally, owner of Riverside Liquor in Detroit.

Dally is upset over an initiative announced at a private business meeting among Chaldeans, under the approving eye of Detroit’s new Mayor Ken Cockrel Jr. that Chaldean store owners be asked to join a “Guaranteed Fresh” campaign for their stores.

Dally, and many other business owners feel the business group sold-out the Chaldean business community to gain political points with the new mayor and raise money for their own pet projects. “They don’t care about Chaldean businesses. All they care about is using the community name to take money from those who work so they can play golf,” says Dally’s son Thomas. “Why didn’t they propose the city start a ‘Guarantee Response’ from the police every time a Chaldean store calls for help during an armed robbery or theft?

Mosul, IRAQ - "Now the last safe haven for Christians is gone," said Canon Andrew White, the vicar of St. George's church in Baghdad. During the past week, twelve Christians have been killed and more than 3,000 have left the city of Mosul, once considered a safe zone for persecuted Iraqi Christians.

Mosul, on the plain of Nineveh in northern Iraq, has long been home to one of the largest remaining Christian communities in the nation. Furthermore, in recent years the city has been a destination for persecuted Christians.

Proving the weakness of Maliki’s government and the vulnerability of Iraqi Christians, a music store owner was shot to death in the northern city of Mosul. Police sources said on Monday gunmen entered the store late on Sunday and shot dead the Iraqi Christian store owner and his nephew, who was wounded.

California, USA – They were coming out alive. Born alive. Babies. Vulnerable human beings. Is it true that a leading presidential contender would allow them to be murdered? In what many, might otherwise include among “the least of my brothers,” some are alleging that Obama is an abortion extremist. How could the killing of millions of babies somehow not be among America’s greatest moral failings? Is the claim that Obama supports infanticide true?

Mosul, IRAQ – Another tragic killing of Christians in Mosul today. Al Qaeda militants gunned down Chaldean Jalal Moussa, 38, and three other Chaldeans in front of their homes in the neighborhood of Noor. Islamic militants have been terrorizing the city with shouts and nailing posters urging attacks against Christians, threatening more slaughter and violence and urging U.S. military to leave.

Little has been covered by world media as major news outlets refuse to cover the ongoing Christian attacks. In less than seven days, nine Christians have been murdered because of their faith. Asia News reveals an organized campaign is underway to drive Christians out of the region. The news reports a car with a loudspeaker went around the streets in the neighborhood of Sukkar, ordering the Christians to leave." "Christians out of the city," the people on board were shouting, "otherwise you will be victims of more attacks."

On Monday, October 6, Ziad Kamal, a disabled 25-year-old shopkeeper in the city, was shot to death. The young man's store was in the neighborhood of Karam. Before him, armed groups assassinated Hazim Thomaso Youssif, age 40. The ambush took place in front of his clothing store in Bab Sarray. On the same day, 15-year-old Ivan Nuwya, also a Christian, was killed. The young man was shot to death in front of his home in the neighborhood of Tahrir, in front of the local mosque of Alzhara.

The Christian community lives in panic as the slaughter continues "to the indifference" of the media, which "do not even report the crimes that are committed."

Michigan, USA – “Chaldeans will overwhelmingly vote on values,” says Roger Shamoun a legal officer with Oakland Courts. “Chaldeans know the root of so much evil in the world comes from what we as Americans value. That does not mean Chaldeans are oblivious to the suffering of Iraqi Chaldeans in Iraq. Both issues are important to the community, and it seems the community is leaning towards Senator McCain as the best candidate to address both of these important issues.”

Julie Hindoo, a college freshman at Oakland Community College disagrees and plans to vote for Barack Obama. “He is cool and hip. It would be sweet to have a black president in America. Plus look what Bush has done to Iraq,” she says.

“That seems to be the crux of the issue in the community,” says Shamoun. “Chaldeans who are voting on faith, family, and tax issues will be voting for McCain hands-down, but what about those who don’t care about those issues and instead care about the Iraqi war. How should they vote?”

Sulaimaniyah, IRAQ — Today, Iraq's three-member presidency council approved a delayed provincial election law, amidst strong criticism of legally marginalizing Christian representation in the country. “Again, Iraqi Christians are dealt a devastating blow,” says Issam Najed. “America’s revolution was ignited over taxation without representation. In Iraq, Christians are given no representation in the direction of their country.”

"I think that some political groups are pushing the remaining Christians to leave Iraq," worshipper Afram Razzaq-Allah said after services at a Catholic church in Baghdad. "They want us to feel that we are no longer Iraqis." Native Americans can empathize with the indigenous people of Iraq. Iraq's leaders feigned seeking safeguards for small religious communities in this mainly Muslim country as Christians protested parliament's decision for minority representation on provincial councils.

Baghdad, IRAQ -Iraq's presidential council has agreed on a law which paves the way for US-backed provincial elections to be held by the end of January, a spokesman said. Al-Ani says the panel led by President Jalal Talabani decided to approve the law on Monday but did not sign it due to Islamic holidays.

Mosul, IRAQ – The outcry of Iraqi, American, and European Chaldeans for fair representation have given Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki pause. The Iraqi Prime Minister openly announced on Sunday that he has sought safeguards for Christians and other minorities who have complained that they have lost guaranteed seats in provincial councils under a new election law.

Chaldeans who took the time to voice their concern may have helped the future of Iraq’s minority population. “We are grateful to the Chaldeans across the world that sent e-mails, called their representatives, and sent letters to Iraq’s Prime Minister,” says Raad Abdel. “God will forever bless these wonderful Chaldeans who spoke out against such injustice.”

After Iraqi legislators scrapped a clause known as article 50, that would have guaranteed seats for Christians and other minority sects, online news sites and e-mails quickly covered the expressed outrage. However, the bill in its current form must be approved by a presidency council consisting of President Jalal Talabani and his two vice presidents before it becomes law. Christian leaders have expressed hope that it can still be amended to guarantee their seats. “With the help of our Chaldean brothers and sisters reaching out to representatives this may still be possible,” adds Abdel.

BAGHDAD — After months of negotiation, Iraq's parliament passed a crucial election law Wednesday, but only by setting aside for future debate the most divisive issues and stripping away most all minority rights. Iraqi Christians protested on Thursday against the absence of a clause determining their quota of provincial coucil seats in a new provincial elections law adopted the day before in the Iraqi parliament

The Students Federation of Chaldean Christians in Iraq objected to the secret removal of a clause in the old law that reserved provincial council’s seats for Christians and other religious minorities. The new law could clear the way for provincial elections to take place in much of Iraq early next year with no voice for the indigenous people of Iraq. The deletion of the law now leaves Iraqi Christians 'disenfranchised,' the Voices of Iraq (VOI) news agency quoted the group as saying.

Iraqi and U.S. officials moved aggressively to get the law passed. Both U.S. and the U.N. ignored to challenge why minority clauses were stripped by Iraqi parliament, leaving minorities vulnerable to ongoing oppression. Secretary of the Chaldean National Council, Daiaa Boutros, said that removing the clause was dangerous in an Iraq that was moving towards democracy, as the country had to preserve the rights of minorities.

California, USA –Chaldean business leaders are fast feeling the pinch as banks are reluctant to even give payroll loans on verified accounts receivables. With the U.S. Economy on the verge of bankruptcy Chaldeans are still befuddled with how this could be possible.

Sarmad Khomoro, of Bay Side Liquor in Los Angeles puts it this way, “If one customer asks me to loan him some money and that he will pay me back next month, I can handle it if he doesn’t pay his debt, it’s only one person. Now, if the city of Los Angeles passes a law that tells me I have to give everyone who asks me a loan and the city will back-me-up if they don’t pay me-back. I am going to give loans to hundreds of people because I want to get more customers and make them happy. I don’t care if they can pay it back or not, since the city promised me they would bail me out if there was a problem.”

Khomoro’s example is pretty much exactly what happened on a national level with banks. Banks were reassured that bad loans would be protected by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. www.CHALDEAN.org Michigan columnist Sam Yousif wrote that the blame lies with Democrats. The article created a flurry of e-mails. Over forty-two e-mails were sent asking for more information. So we put our California business reporter, David Najor on the task. This is what Najor reports...

It all began with the CRA (Community Reinvestment Act) that quickly turned into a thief’s bank in the early 90's. The Los Angeles Times reported that, starting in 1992, a majority-Democratic Congress "mandated that Fannie and Freddie increase their purchases of mortgages for low-income and medium-income borrowers. Operating under that requirement, Fannie Mae, in particular, has been aggressive and creative in stimulating minority gains."

California, USA – “The entire Milk Day movement is based on fallacies, is offensive, and every Chaldean around the world should contact Governor Schwarzenegger and tell him to veto this bill. Again, they are attempting to shove immorality down our throats,” declares Jonathan Shayota.

Gina Ateek agrees that, “AB 2567 needs to be vetoed.” The California bill is now awaiting Governor Schwarzenegger’s signature that would designate May 22nd a day to celebrate homosexuality. “Unless the governor receives 1 million phone calls requesting the bill be vetoed,” says Ateek. “Everyone with a phone should call 1-916-445-2841, then press 1,2,1,2 to record a no vote for this bill.”

Mosul, IRAQ – “If the condemnation by their Imams of the kidnapping and murder of Chaldean Archbishop Rahho was not enough, what will stop them,” says Eddie Gulli. The Archbishop left big shoes to fill after his disgraceful execution. “Our people have been able to survive because of faith. They know this and that is why they attack our church. They know if you attack our faith you will ultimately kill all of us.”

Gulli’s comments ring true to many Iraqi Christian leaders. The continuous attacks against the passive church seem to only get worse. “It seems the more humble and forgiving the church, the angrier these crazy people become,” Gulli comments while shaking his head dumbfounded.

As soon as a new priest, Fr. Bassman Fatoohey was assigned to replace the Archbishop in Mosul the threats against his life began. "I recently received a letter at the presbytery. Inside was a bullet. I knew at once what it meant," he says: "I was a marked man,” Fr. Fatoohey tells the Catholic Herald.

Michigan, USA – The Church of Transfiguration in Southfield, formerly St. Michaels hosts the Southfield 40 Days for Life kick-off campaign. The 40Days for life team invites the public to join the prayer effort as the prayer group gathers at 6:45 p.m. today, Tuesday, September 24th to help put an end to abortion.

From September 24 - November 2, our community will be one of more than 170 cities in 45 states joining together for the largest and longest coordinated pro-life mobilization in history -- the 40 Days for Life campaign.

40 Days for Life is a focused pro-life effort that consists of:

40 days of prayer and fasting, 40 days of peaceful vigil, and 40 days of community outreach. Chaldeans4Life help lead the effort in the Chaldean community. Group leaders say the are praying that, with God's help, their groundbreaking effort will mark the beginning of the end of abortion in our city -- and throughout America.

Chaldeans interested in becoming part of the growing movement are encouraged to take a stand for life.

Surrogates from both the McCain and Obama camp have approached Chaldean community leaders hoping to gain their support. In Michigan, issue advocates like CatholicVote.com have reached out to Chaldeans with a special issue announcement.

The Chaldean Caucus of Michigan will be hosting the first presidential debate viewing at Mother of God Church Hall in Southfield, Michigan this Friday, September 26th beginning at 7:30 p.m. Supporters of both candidates are invited to attend. Refreshments will be served and lively discussion will follow immediately after the debate, moderated by Chaldean Caucus regional leaders.

Michigan, USA - “Me and my wife work over seventy hours a week. We make all our payments and when we can’t afford something we don’t buy it,” says Sam Kalesho. “Our government is going crazy. They are stealing from us all. They want more taxes, charge us more for electricity, and killing America. Whoever’s fault this is should never be in politics again.”

Kalesho is surprised when a customer of his yells out, “Then get the Democrats out of office.” Trevor Raddison, shopping at Lakeside Liquor blames the Democrats for the economic collapse. “McCain himself tried to stop Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in 2006. He predicted this tragedy and the Democrats blocked him. Democrats are bought and sold. Fannie and Freddie paid millions to the Democrats to protect them while they were cooking the books. They gave protection paybacks to Obama, Biden, Clinton, and Dodd. They act like they are for the working man, but they aren’t. To them it is all a front. Immigration, not allowing us to drill in America, not allowing people the right to work, Democrats are crooks. I burnt my democrat card a long time ago.”

For months the Michigan civil rights commission held preliminary investigations to determine the nature of the abuse and has concluded that SMART did in fact discriminate, harass, and abuse Mr. Barash. Michigan’s civil rights commission has now filed formal charges against SMART.

For the Barash family, the harassment is far from over. Friends of Mazyn at SMART have also become the target of a vindictive management who has already fired those who defended Mazyn while he was being harassed and threatened.

California, USA – “We should be more active,” says Jonathan Shayota. “We need to knock on doors, get petitions signed, lobby our government, and be more involved in voicing our issues.” Shayota’s passion is contagious. A group of college students nod in passionate agreement with what he is saying. “If we don’t voice our opposition, then remaining silent means you agree with them,” Shayota adds.

The political science major is active in local California politics and is helping other Chaldeans learn how to take a stand. His fervent effort to protect marriage between one man and one woman won over his local parish into helping to get signatures signed by committed voters to help defeat the California gay marriage court intervention. “Most tech savvy people don’t bother with the paper any longer. They use the internet,” Shayota says. “However, papers still offer Chaldeans an opportunity to voice their concern and most professional publications have invested heavily in their online presence as well. You are still going to have to write to the editors to set the record straight and if they refuse to listen, then share your feelings with their advertisers.”

Shayota shares his ten tips on how to write a letter and ensure it has the best chance of being published. Included in Shayota’s example is a submission by Rafah Odish of Farmington Hills, Michigan. “Odish writes about her support for Congressman Knollenberg and his active involvement in helping Chaldeans. Her masterful piece found its way into the local paper in her city showcasing the gratitude of the Chaldean community and the good work of congressman Knollenberg. This is a wonderful example of how to get your piece printed.”

Michigan, USA - Frustrated Detroit Chaldean business owners breathe a sign of relief. “Finally. It took this long and cost so much for this city to see what kind of crook we had in office,” says Khalid Nalou, manager of Downtown Corner Market. “He picked on small business from day one. This man forced more business to leave a city than Katrina. I moved my entire family from Detroit and was looking for another place to work.”

The infamous Democratic Mayor was not shy to share his dislike for small businesses in the city. He often complained and organized attacks against convenient stores, gas stations, hardware stores, salons, and dollar retailers.

“He upset and offended so many people. He was arrogant and thought he was a lion. Now he is a mouse. When you are sel;fish and not humble, this is what happens,” says Nalou. Kilpatrick will shamefully resign, serve 120 days in jail, and pay $1M restitution.

Mosul, IRAQ - The Chaldean community in Iraq remain vulnerable victims of kidnap, torture, and murder by Islamic fundamentalists twisted by hatred. News of the torturous death of a 65-year-old doctor, Tariq Qattan, kidnapped recently by a terrorist group is being released by AsiaNews. “The family paid a $20,000 ransom, but it was not enough to free Tariq,” say sources.

Tariq Qattan is one of the many Iraqi Christians kidnapped by fundamentalists for extortion. For the family of Nafi Haddad the outcome is just as unbearable. Haddad was also kidnapped and killed.

Despite assurances by the Iraqi government Christians remain vulnerable targets. “Iraqi police continue to ignore investigating or prosecuting those involved,” says relatives of the Haddad family close to the matter.

[This article contains graphic videos. Do not read this article if you can not handle mature images.]

California, USA – Her comments will be on the mouths of Catholic clergy, catechist teachers, and around the holy water coolers. “The recent presidential debate shined a bright light on Obama’s 100% support by NARAL, Planned Parenthood, and the right to kill babies groups,” says Jessica Isho, a Chaldean California Pro-Life member. “Democrats say science trumps everything, right? Every scientist tells you life begins at conception. Obama is the worst of politicians with no principals. What does he care, I bet to him the misguided mothers are killing Christian babies, that is why he doesn’t care.”

Coming to Obama’s defense was the U.S. House Speaker who many say stupidly threw fuel on the fire. The Speaker was challenged over Obama’s inability to determine when life begins during an NBC “Meet the Press” TV show. U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said like Obama, the church has been unable to determine when life begins. The comments have causes a firestorm among Catholics, Chaldeans, and other Christians.

Yesterday and today www.CHALDEAN.org received over 62 e-mails from Chaldeans regarding Pelosi’s comments. Chaldeans are shocked at what she said. “Pelosi purposely tries to confuse the issue and moral importance of abortion,” wrote Jenna Jajo. “She is blatantly wrong that the church has been unable to define when life begins. She is a despicable fraud and an insult to the state of California. She is no Catholic. Anyone who supports abortion is not a Catholic.”

Michigan, USA - Refusing to submit, Egyptian Coptic Father Zakaria Botros tells listeners he will,” stop revealing the truth about Islam when my ten demands are met.” The Coptic Priest is named Islam’s “Public Enemy #1” by the Arabic newspaper, al-Insan al-Jadid. He has famously made of Islam “ten demands” whose radical nature he uses to highlight Islam’s own radical demands on non-Muslims.

The internationally renowned Coptic priest along with Muslim converts minces no words when addressing controversial topics of theological significance and touches on little-known but embarrassing aspects of Islamic law and tradition. With rewards for his murder the priest fearlessly continues. He has become a thorn in the side of Islamic leaders throughout the Middle East and now in the United States.

Tensions in Dearborn, Michigan rise as Fr. Botros continues to challenge Islamic teachings. Dearborn’s Arab American newspaper reports that local Imams have been fuming over the Coptic priest’s ongoing revelations of Islam. Fearing anger will turn to violence; Deaborn’s Imams have called on Birach Broadcast owner demanding changes be made. The Imams have also appealed to Chaldean and other Middle Eastern Christian leaders requesting interfaith efforts to create the change they seek.

California, USA – The event is planned from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday in the southwest parking lot of the El Cajon Wal-Mart, 605 Fletcher Parkway.

The event is free and open to all county residents. E-waste includes old computers, TVs, stereo equipment, phones and other items that can't be thrown in the trash. Household appliances and batteries will not be accepted.

Also on Saturday at the El Cajon Wal-Mart, San Diego Gas & Electric is partnering with Electronic Disposal Group for a light bulb exchange.

The U.S. Senate is considering a bill -- S. 223 -- that would require senators to disclose their campaign contributions electronically, just like the House and presidential candidates have been doing for years. The Center for Responsive Politics, Sunlight Foundation and other transparency advocates have been pushing hard to get this bill passed this session, and they now have more than 40 co-sponsors of the bill.

The Chaldean Caucus needs your help to get it passed into law. Chaldean readers need to make two quick phone calls to your senators. Our pro-transparency coalition has set up http://Pass223.com so you can easily make the calls and report back what you hear.

Go to http://Pass223.com to urge the Senate to pass this bill without any amendments. The site leads you through simple steps on how to do it, and it even includes a suggested script. Then you can report back and let everyone know how the call went.

Michigan, USA – Detroit’s government tail spin has the entire nation talking about the once great city. Residents and business owners are commenting that Detroit’s legacy of automobile and manufacturing innovation, entertainment, and education has crumpled to corruption, incompetence, and theft. Detroit resident and and manager of Party City Beer and Wine in downtown Detroit, Martin Kouza says, “This City has challenges, but this can be a good chance for the city to change for the good.”

The city’s mounting problems seem only to get worse. Detroit’s embroiled Democratic Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick has been sentenced to jail time. Once again across the nation the city has come under scrutiny, costing city business owners and residents considerably.

The state of Michigan remains a battle ground for the presidential campaign and the city’s issues is casting a very dark cloud. Democratic Presidential candidate Barrak Obama’s campaign made it clear that the Detroit mayor was not to attend any of Obama’s events, fearing negative attention.

“What is wrong with the Democratic party,” says Julie Yono, a member of the Downriver Young Democrats. “We had a president, a New York and New Jersey governor, and now the mayor of Detroit, all disgraced over their lack of respect for women and the law. This entire party is falling apart because of sex. This is getting way out of control; I think it is time to leave the city and the party.”

The GAO made their report public yesterday prompting renewed calls from Democrats and few Republicans that Baghdad pay more of the bill for its own reconstruction. The Iraqi government could end the year with a small budget surplus reveals the GAO report. Iraq’s budget surplus has been building due to increased oil production, stability in the region, and the government’s unwillingness to spend money, the report continues.

“Although America has broken it, they don’t want to buy it,” says Kevin Jammo. “Democrats want to undermine the progress being made in the country. They diminish the success of the surge and all the other progress taking place. It is too soon to force Iraq to spend its meager money on a war waged against them. This is an election year and these heartless politicians are playing games with a nation trying to stand-up. As soon as Iraq starts to get their footing, Democrats want to foot-sweep them back to the ground.”

Michigan, USA - The Chaldean Caucus has sent out over 6,000 e-mails and mailed out over 2,000 letters to likely Chaldean voters reminding them that tomorrow, Tuesday, August 5 are the primary elections. “We want to keep the Chaldean community informed and excited about local races as much as the upcoming presidential race,” says Lauren George, western district Chaldean Caucus representative.

Politicians have come to realize the importance of winning the Chaldean vote says George. “The community values democracy. Coming from a country that would kill your entire family should you dare consider thinking and acting in democratic ways, we are hungry to participate. Our community is active in campaigns, involved in running for politics, and we get out the vote.”

The largest population of Chaldeans in the United States lives in Oakland County, Michigan. George says that political candidates in that county wisely court the Chaldean constituency knowing that Chaldeans can make all the difference.

California, USA - For many Chaldeans, the cell phone is a life-line to the family. “Long hours at work, family members pulled in hundreds of different directions, constantly on the run; that’s the life of a Chaldean,” says Joseph Jirjis, store manager of Shop Cellular in El Cajon California. “We have to stay in touch with one another. That is how we are able to help one another and make sure everyone is safe. Even my grandmother has a cell phone.”

Chaldeans often complained about the additional fees cell phone companies would add to a plan. “They nickel and dime a customer to death,” Jirjis adds. “Based on the company, we have to follow their plan, and they have all sorts of fees. Many of our customers get shocked to see all the fees.”

The termination fee in particular upset many customers. Cellular phone companies would sell contracts to customers and if a customer terminated their contract early an additional fee was added. However, a Superior Court judge in California has ruled that the practice of charging consumers a fee for ending their cell phone contract early is illegal and violates state law.

Michigan, USA - Faithful Chaldean pilgrims are concerned over Carey, Ohio’s Feast of the Assumption gathering at Our Lady of Consolation Shrine this year. For years a radical evangelical group, by the name of The Street Preachers Fellowship congregate to disrupt the Assumption procession of Catholics. One confrontation practically ended up as a riot in 2006 raising the attention of the federal government.

“With numerous eye witness accounts of the evangelical’s group intimidating, threatening, and ruckus behavior Carey’s Chief of Police, Dennis Yingling turns a blind eye,” says attorney Bobby Kassab. “We have spoken with the federal authorities who have hinted that the FBI might be present since the intimidation and threats can be construed as hate crimes.”

Chief Yingling is on record blaming young Chaldeans. Fr. Hadnagy of Our Lady of Consolation Shrine is shocked at the Chief’s stance. “Was he even there? I find it incredible that a police chief doesn't understand that when a band of people [The Street Preachers Fellowship], who admit they want trouble, start trouble that they're not to blame," said Father Hadnagy.

The Catholic News Agency reports that the Australian government has denied visas to dozens of Chaldean World Youth Day pilgrims from Iraq. Australian officials say they are concerned that participants will not return home and instead will seek asylum in Australia. One Chaldean Catholic priest called the decision “a slap at young people who wanted to go to witness to the faith and the joy of the church’s living in Iraq despite sufferings.”

Initially the Australian government denied visas for nearly 170 pilgrims, allowing only ten visas to aspiring World Youth Day participants, the SIR News Agency says. According to the website Baghdadhope, there are now only about 30 total visas available that will be granted “in extremis.”

Father Rayan P. Atto, parish priest of Mar Qardagh Church in Erbil, told SIR News Agency that the concerns about asylum seekers were unfounded, arguing that, “for young Christian Iraqis, taking part in the WYD in Sydney was not a way to leave their country.”

Mosul, IRAQ – Christian churches in Iraq continue to receive threatening notices foreshadowing potentially violent attacks against the non-Muslim religious centers. In the northern Iraqi city of Mosul parishioners fear the worst after a letters were received asking them not to cooperate with US forces.

“We don’t cooperate with anyone. They use this as an excuse to attack, torture, hold for ransom, and kill innocent people,” says Khalid Bunni, a parishioner in the region.

Baghdad, IRAQ - Senior research fellow, Brian J. Grim, paints a harrowing picture of the ongoing persecution of Iraqi Christians. The research expert on religion and world affairs with the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life in Washington, D.C. reports that the situation for Christians in Iraq is worsening.

“It is no small irony, of course, that the Shiite majority that's now a leading force in Iraq was brutalized and suppressed under Saddam, who extensively curbed the Shiites' religious freedoms. A State Department report in 2002 said Saddam's government ‘severely restricts or bans outright many Shiite religious practices.’ One might think that those fresh memories would be enough to ensure liberties for Iraq's religious minorities today. Yet that appears not to be the case,” writes Grim in his report.

Iraqi Christians are part of historic indigenous communities that have been in what is now Iraq nearly since the time of Christ, several centuries before Islam came to the region. The majority of them are Chaldean Christians, an ancient religious group affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church.

Michigan, USA - Obama’s relations with Muslims were further stressed as a private back-door meeting spiraled downward over Jewish support. Among over 150 African-American community leaders and a handful of Arab-Americans were invited to the private meeting. An argument ensued between Obama and Osama Siblani regarding the presidential hopeful’s public support of Israel.

“The more people learn about him the more they feel he is like any other politician,” says Husam Abid, a Chaldean business man in Detroit, Michigan. “I was told that the Arabs at the meeting made it clear that they want Obama to return to his roots and stand against Jews. Others feel Obama is purposely alienating Muslims to mask his heritage and show he would not favor Islam.”

Chaldean community leaders, like Ramzi Dalloo, of Troy Michigan are hopeful that Obama’s efforts to reach out to the two communities are reciprocated. Nonetheless, tension between Jews and Obama grows. A website sharing Jewish frustration titled, www.JewsAgainstObama.com is gaining national attention. The site catalogs Obama’s anti-Jewish stance. Danny Ayalon, Israel's former ambassador in Washington adds to the growing discourse in a published article in the Jerusalem Post. Ayalon writes that the Democratic candidate wasn’t entirely forthright regarding Israel.

Michigan, USA - “Chaldean convenient and grocery market retailers are unhappy about this,” says Jalal Rayes, a prominent consultant to Chaldean food retailers in southeast Michigan. “You can’t keep kicking small businesses. We are tired of it. The state already has added more taxes, more regulation, more fees for permits, more taxes for equipment, and now is considering turning our businesses into recycle centers. They just can’t afford it. It hurts customers, employees, and businesses that are keeping Michigan alive.”

The Michigan United Conservation Clubs (MUCC) kicked off an initiative today to convince the legislature to add a 10-cent deposit for water bottles. This is the same group that originally pushed for Michigan to become the first state to require deposits on pop bottles.

The idea has come under harsh criticism from Chaldeans and many others in the business community, mainly those that would be responsible for handling all the new empty containers.

Michigan, USA – Many would say it is a rite of passage for Michigan Chaldeans to visit Frankenmuth. The Bavarian village, dubbed “Michigan’s Little Bavaria” has rich cultural and historical significance and is one of the largest tourist attractions in Michigan. The small town is now facing legal pressure to strip all religious symbols from their village. The legal threats hope to end the all-year Christmas displays, removal of the Cross from the town shield, and the destruction of the Cross in the city park.

Americans United for the Separation of Church and State has taken steps to challenge the city for its use of religions symbols. In response, the City Council of Frankenmuth unanimously voted to retain the Thomas More Law Center to defend its unique historical and cultural heritage.

Christian persecution in America is not necessarily physical abuse says David Haddad, a student of world history. He asserts that it is more psychological and systematic intimidation that will eventually lead to physical abuse. “When a Chaldean thinks of ‘persecution’ our minds turn to the humiliating and horrible conditions we faced as a people or the holocaust our people suffered during World War I,” Haddad adds.

Michigan, USA - Chaldeans in Oak Park, Michigan are perplexed over plans by Oak Park Mayor to ask its residents to approve a tax hike. The mayor says the money is needed to keep two public safety officers on the payroll and buy patrol cars in the wake of budget cuts.

Mayor Gerald Naftaly says the city had to cut $900,000 from its 2008-09 budget because of declining revenues. A decline that many say has been caused because of the city’s inability to keep property values from plummeting. “I don’t understand why Mayor Naftaly has to cut police. There are other ways to save money for the city,” Oak Park resident, Imad Kuza says.

Baghdad, IRAQ – "Violence should not call for more violence! We are on the side of justice, not the death penalty,” Chaldean Bishop Warduni affirmed from Iraq. "If he were still alive, Archbishop Rahho himself would not permit that someone would die for him.”

Contentions rise high as Chaldeans call on the Iraqi government to spare the life of the man convicted of killing the Archbishop on February, 29 outside of a church. The Archbishop was leading the Way of the Cross during Lent when Ahmad Ali Ahmad, a ilitant from al-Qaida, led a group to abduct the Archibishop and kill his sub deacons.

Chaldean Auxiliary Bishop Shlemon Warduni of Baghdad said, "Let us recall that the principles that have always inspired the Church are forgiveness and reconciliation."

Bartella, IRAQ - Thousands of Christians fleeing persecution in other parts of Iraq have returned since 2004 to ancestral lands in the Nineveh Plain, just north and east of Mosul.

While they have escaped the Islamic militias who slaughtered family members and burned down their houses and churches in Baghdad and Mosul, now they face a new battle. Today’s enemies are poverty, joblessness, and despair.

Jamal Dinha, mayor of Bartella, a large Christian village east of Mosul, painted a dire picture of the life these persecuted Christians now face in this Kurdish-controlled safe haven.

Beirut, LEBANON – Little has been discussed about the Chaldean Iraqi children who have been forced to deal with the challenging situations of persecution in Iraq. Christian families under siege in the war-torn country are faced with few choices. For those that flee, Children are often in tow having to endure the trauma of the journey. Pain, hunger, anxiety, confusion, and fear are just some of the issue these young kids face.

Last September, Sondrine and Raymond Khamo lived with their parents in a two-floor house in Mosul, Iraq. Their uncle had been shot in the head when he was driving, and their mother, Haifa Khamo, was afraid to let her children go outside. Until the night they decided to flee Iraq to save their lives.

Brussels, Belgium - Chaldeans were outraged over the European Union's Slovenian presidency rejection of the German asylum proposal. The proposal offered asylum seekers from Iraqi’s Christian community special status due to the organized and systematic genocide in Iraq.

“The EU President is a coward and refused to tell the truth of what is occurring. No one is blind to the fact that Christian minorities are being targeted. They are afraid to say the truth, so as to not offend Muslims. Where are the moderate Muslims to condemn such attacks. Why don’t they tell their followers to turn over evidence and stop harboring these thugs by their silence,” says Hamsa Mansour.

Nearly 4,000 Chaldeans marched into the streets to protest on Friday in Luxembourg. “You see how Christians protest? We are peaceful. Because of our peace, our faith in Jesus, and that we do not believe in war or converting or conquering by the sword we are attacked and killed,” adds Mansour. The demonstration in Brussels on Saturday brought protestors from Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland.

Illinois, USA - Former collegiate award winning journalist, Adam Doster, a University of Michigan graduate and previous managing editor of the Michigan Independent uncovers the horrors and causalities of the Iraqi War. In Doster’s revealing article, “They Can’t Go Home Again,” Chaldeans are showcased in an in-depth examination of Iraqi refugees and the indifference shown to their plight by the United States.

Doster tackles the exodus, abandonment, and rejection that has scattered nearly a million Iraqi Chaldeans. A group caught in the cross-hairs of the U.S. led war against former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. A group pushed to the verge of extinction by Islamic terrorists and ignored by western countries for fear of seeming bias to the native people of Iraq.

Doster writes, “On a rainy March morning, in a drab office complex off one of Metro Detroit’s many expressways, I met Mona and Fadi Rabban. In broken English, they greeted me graciously, keeping their heads slightly bowed. The diminutive Fadi was dressed in black jeans and a beat-up leather jacket. His beautiful middle-aged wife donned a thin, black cardigan and black slacks, which seemed less suitable for the Midwest winter.

Michigan, USA - 28-year old West Bloomfield attorney John Kuriakuz officially filed paperwork last week with Oakland County establishing himself as a Democratic candidate for the Michigan House of Representatives in District 39. Last week also marked his last day at a Detroit law firm, where he walked away from a six-figure salary to focus full-time on winning the race to represent his hometown in the State House.

In January, Kuriakuz filed papers with the Secretary of State showing that before the New Year even began, his campaign had already raised over $45,000.

"I am passionate about serving my hometown in the State Legislature and am very grateful for the amount of support I've received so early on," Kuriakuz said. "I am especially proud to announce that unlike many candidates, I did not raise any money from special interest groups. All of my supporters are longtime friends, neighbors and relatives who have known me for years, believe in my abilities and support my vision for the State of Michigan."

Washington DC, USA – Top broadcast journalist, Raymond Arroyo of the EWTN Global Catholic Network, brings the plight of Christian minorities directly to the feet of the U.S. president. During an exclusive interview with the U.S. President George Bush Arroyo questions U.S. support of Iraqi minority human rights and what more can be done to protect Iraqi Christians. Portions of the interview have been released to www.CHALDEAN.org prior to the public airing of the interview on EWTN on Friday, April 11, at 8 p.m. on the “The World Over.”

The interview will air on the eve of Pope Benedict’s April 15th – 20th visit to the U.S. and is expected to cover U.S. relations with the Holy See, the papal visit, Iraq, and much more.

“Chaldeans are eager to watch the interview this Friday,” says Farouk Slewa. “We are hopeful that the suffering for all Iraqis comes to an end soon. Our people have mixed feelings over how the war is being handled. One political party is for oil and the other party wants the war to end horribly for their own gain. In the middle are real humans. What is needed is more attention and discussion of the honest issues. Why is America not covering these issues more?”

Ninevah, IRAQ - It would seem Iraqi Christians are able to embrace the democratic principles of petitioning government, free speech, and the right to assemble. For most of the week, peaceful marches have been held by Iraqi Christians in hopes of drawing attention to the injustice and persecution Christians face. The silent marches send reverberating waves throughout the country as other Iraqis look on in interest.

Each day hundreds of Chaldeans and other Christians march down streets holding photos of Christian Martyrs. Loud in action and small in talk the Iraqi Christians call for justice. The council of Nineveh bishops, which include the community and religious leaders of all Christian communities in the Ninevah region of Iraq support the marches.

Men, women, and children march holding pictures of Archbishop Rahho to Fr Ragheed and Fr Paul Iskandar, all victims killed by radical Islamist hoping to drive Christians out of their land. Marchers also carried hundreds of pictures of Christian family members who have been killed for their faith, resisting kidnapping attempts, refusal to convert, or because they owned shops that sold alcoholic beverages (banned by Islam). The protestors walked through the streets of Bartella, Karamles, Qaraqosh, al Qosh.

Berlin, GERMANY - Germany is mulling calls for it to take in up to 30,000 Christians who have fled intimidation and violence in Iraq, an Interior Ministry spokeswoman said Saturday, confirming an account in the news magazine Der Spiegel.

Iraq's Christians, who have lived in Mesopotamia since before the advent of Islam, have fled en masse to refugee camps in Jordan and Syria and say the reduction in fighting between Shiites and Sunnis has not benefited them, with killings of Christians continuing.

Interior Ministry experts in Berlin were studying suggestions from the Catholic and Lutheran churches that Germany declare a quota for resettlement by Iraqi Christian refugees, Der Spiegel said.

Saskatchewan, CANADA - Pope Benedict celebrated a special memorial Mass in the Vatican chapel in honor of Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho. Pope Benedict has called Rahho's death an "inhuman act of violence" that offended human dignity. In his homily Monday, the Pope called Archbishop Rahho a man of peace and dialogue who paid particular attention to the poor and handicapped in his flock.

"Let his example support all Iraqis of good will — Christians and Muslims — to work for a peaceful coexistence, founded on human brotherhood and reciprocal respect," Pope Benedict said. Most every other country followed the Pope’s lead in condemning the torture and murder and calling on the Iraqi government to be more vigilant in protecting the rights of its citizens.

For Chaldean tween, Joseph Markos' leap-year birthday was celebrated this year amid grief in his Iraqi-born family. "I was kind of sad because it was the same day the archbishop was kidnapped," said the 12-year-old at a news conference in Saskatoon, concerning the death of the Iraqi archbishop. For teenager Mohammed Abeed Kahoury and his parents the memorial of the Archbishop helped them make their decision to enroll in catechism classes to learn more about Christianity.

Mousul, IRAQ- Pope Benedict made an emotional appeal for an end to violence and massacres in Iraq, as he recalled during Palm Sunday services the death of a kidnapped Chaldean Catholic archbishop. "His beautiful testimony of faith to Christ, the Church and his people that he did not want to abandon despite numerous threats, pushes me to raise a strong and sorrowful cry: enough with the massacres, enough with the violence, enough with hatred in Iraq!" he said.

Speaking to thousands of pilgrims clutching palm fronds and olive branches -- symbols of peace -- in St. Peter's Square, the Pope called on Iraqis to "raise their heads" and rebuild their nation with reconciliation, forgiveness and justice.

Rahho, 65, was kidnapped during a shootout in which three of his companions were killed, as he returned home after mass in Mosul on February 29. The killers later telephoned church authorities on Thursday to announce where the archbishop’s body could be found. The body of the Bishop was recovered from a shallow grave within a garbage dump area further inflaming passions

Along with the Pope the Chaldean Patriarch urged Iraq to resolve peace in their hearts. Hundreds gathered at the church in the village of Kramleis, just north of Mosul, to memorialize the highest-ranking Christian cleric to be targeted by Islamic fanatics since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq five years ago.

California, USA - Three hooded and masked burglars smashed their way into the Ramona Market on Main Street Sunday, March 2, at midnight. Having disabled the store’s redundant security alarm systems, the burglars rampaged through the store for 30 minutes, breaking registers with a crow bar, strewing papers and inventory all around the store, smashing bottles, and destroying as much as stealing. Security cameras captured the burglary, showing the robbers wearing hooded sweatshirts, or “hoodies,” over ski masks and wearing gloves.

Main phone lines were cut before they even started the break-in, said store owner Rami Yousif after ordering a third redundancy on the store’s security system. Damage and theft add up to more than $40,000, he said. Safety was one of the most important reasons the Yousif family bought the Ramona Market, Yousif said.

“My family chose Ramona when we bought the store 15 years ago because it was a nice place to be at, people seemed to be nice, willing to do business. We knew that it would be safe,” he said. “Five years ago there were times when I forgot to lock the door overnight and everything would be untouched. It was Ramona.”

Mosul, IRAQ – The Chaldean community around the world stand numb and in disbelief as news of Archbishop Bishop Paulos Faraj Rahho of Mosul is dead.

Outcry from world leaders swayed no influence as fanatical terrorists proved once more that no women, children, medical providers, and now spiritual leaders are safe from their killing spree. “These are innocent people that want to help bring peace. They kill them, because they are filled with hate. These barbarians have no faith in anything, but their own rise to power,” said Omar Touma, a recent refugee and Chaldean parishioner of the Good Shepherd Chaldean Church in Canada.

Mosul, Iraq - Gunmen have kidnapped the archbishop of the Chaldean Catholic Church in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul and murdered three of his aides. The 65 year old archbishop was ordained in 2001. Archibishop Paulos Faraj Rahho was ambushed as he left a church in the eastern al-Nour district, immediately after he finished celebrating the rite of the Via Crucis at a local church and shared consoling words of hope and peace.

Eyewitnesses said that a group of armed men attacked Archbishop Rahho’s vehicle. The gunmen opened fire on the car, killing the three aides, before kidnapping the archbishop. There is no further information of Rahho's whereabouts or his condition. An aide to Iraq's Cardinal Emmanuel III Delly, leader of the church, said he did not know who was behind the kidnapping of the 65-year-old archbishop.

Since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, Iraqi Christians have been targeted by Islamic extremists who label them "crusaders" loyal to U.S. troops. Fanatic Muslims are using this strategy in order to recruit other extremists, raise terror funds, and force Christians to flee the country forfeiting their homes and property to extremists. Property is then sold or used to fund insurgency strikes against coalition forces.

Illinois, USA – Chaldeans congratulate the bold move made by Mayor Jerry Schweighart. The mayor issued an emergency order restricting alcohol sales in the Campustown area. The order applies to this coming Friday and Saturday, Feb. 29-March 1, and is similar to the emergency order issued last year.

“The uniform rules help restaurants and party stores better serve the public,” says Jason Kemmo of Windy City Liquor. “This is safe and fair for all those who serve and purchase alcohol. It worked great last year and we are happy to see it again this year. Students get carried away and most of the alcohol is served at parties which is dangerous for the public and the students.

Kirkuk, IRAQ - Chaldean Archbishop Sako has been elected interim chairman of the Iraqi Council of Christians. A newly formed body that works to broker peace in Iraq and help communicate the importance of Christians in the Middle East. The Archbishop explains that the goal is to create a single unit to engage with the authorities and Christians’ Muslim brothers, but not to be a political party.

The idea developed after a series of deadly coordinated attacks against Christian early this year across Iraq. Iraqi Christians remain at risk and weakened by persecution and continual harassment. Mass emigration and without proper political representation the indigenous people of Iraq are fast faltering. Working at first at the local level the Christian Council is hoping to create a unified voice that will work to promote peace and solidarity among all Iraqis.

The U.S. political machines are out in full force, promising voters, holding town hall meetings, and most importantly claiming to listen. They say they hear the calls for government fairness, government accountability, and government justice.

What Chaldean Caucus member, Jonas Shemi says is that, “Chaldeans need only close their ears and open their eyes.” The Sterling Heights, Michigan resident adds, “Look at their voting records, look at what they have done, look at any pledges they have taken, and then keep looking. Politicians, their press agents, and the media all work together to manipulate the people. They bang the drums for the politicians they want and quietly ignore, roll their eyes, or giggle with any mention of a politician they don’t. Remember the media is owned by corporations and all they want is someone in office they can easily influence.”

The following joke about a politician that goes before St. Peter and is given an option to tour both Heaven and Hell seems to best illustrate the point Shemi seems to be making.

Michigan, USA - Chaldeans have long endured discrimination and harassment at work. Accustomed to the persecution Christians faced at the hands of fantastical Muslims. Silently overcoming the humiliation and unfair treatment Chaldeans endured. “It was not until they torched our homes, raped our children, or forced us into prisons unjustly,” says Chaldean Justice League member Abrahim Kamoo. “America needed hard workers for their factories and once a few Chaldean families settled in, they saved as much as they could so they could reach back and rescue others.”

In America, Chaldeans continue to face discrimination and unfair treatment. However, some Chaldeans are fighting back. A civil right hearing held in Detroit over the racial abuse of Mazyn Barash, 50 by metro Detroit’s suburban bus system. Civil Rights agents have confirmed the repeated harassment and violence against Barash for being Chaldean.

The Michigan Department of Civil Rights investigated the allegations and found evidence to issue an official charge of discrimination. The public hearing was held today at the Michigan Civil Rights Commission in Downtown, Detroit in the Cadillac Place building.

Michigan, USA - Chaldeans will have to contend with tighter U.S. Border crossings as new rules go into affect today. The new rules for the types of identification U.S. and Canadian citizens must present to cross into the country will require more documentation.

Authorities were optimistic the changes wouldn't cause significant delays. Under the new rules, anyone crossing the border will no longer be allowed to simply declare to immigration officers at border crossings that they are citizens.

Instead, those 19 and older will have to show proof of citizenship -- a passport, trusted traveler card or a birth certificate and government-issued ID such as a driver's license.

California, USA - It seems the Arab Jewish conflict in the Middle East is fast spreading through congress as political and cultural jousting matches get underway.

“It doesn’t matter if they are Arab or Jew, just as long as the American people are shown justice and fairness. Isn’t that the American way?” says David Karim, Chaldean political science major in San Diego. “Sunshine is the greatest disinfectant and it seems Issa is upsetting a whole bunch of people that want to keep things hush, hush.”

Issa, a Lebanese American has drawn the ire of Jewish groups and pro-Israel congressmen, news papers and media. Hatred for the representative grew so fierce that Issa was the target of an assassination attempt by Jewish terrorists. An attempt that implicated two members of the Jewish Defense League and was thwarted by the FBI just days before it was carried out.

Rena Oram considers herself a modern day abolitionist. “The stain on world history to enslave other humans is deplorable. It took abolitionist to convince the world that every human life has value. Today, we are called ‘aborlitionists.’ We are modern day abolitionists that work to convince the world that babies in the womb also have the right of life and freedom.”

Oram helped organize a student group that traveled to Washing D.C. for the annual March for Life. The Chaldean activist was joined by hundreds of thousands of other young adults from across the country.

The Annual March for Life draws attention to the millions killed due to the Supreme Court’s 1973 decision to legalize abortion in the case of Roe v. Wade. Although nearly half a million gathered to protest the effects of the Court’s decision on the rights of the unborn, the march receive little coverage in mainstream media.

“The media won’t cover our march because they foolishly believe this is a privacy or woman’s choice issue. It is not. A baby is a natural consequence to a choice that has already been made. It drives me crazy that people just won’t accept personal responsibility for their behavior,” says Oram.

Michigan has been a hot-bed in the ongoing struggle to end infanticide. Recently Students for Life of America secretly captured a speech by abortion provider Dr. Alberto Hodari on Wayne State University’s campus where the doctor claims doctors of have a license to lie to a patient to perform the necessary procedures.

Arizona, USA - There are common elements in all refugee stories. They almost invariably include hardship and fear, courage and sacrifice.

The happy stories - the ones we like to hear - then evolve into tales of perseverance and success. But not every refugee story includes a happy ending. Or at least not one you can see from the beginning.

In August, Sabah Matti and his wife, Widad Matee, boarded an airplane that would take them to Phoenix. The Iraqi couple and their two daughters would start over in a country they had only dreamed about.

Baghdad, IRAQ - Here's what Karrar Haider, a 10-year-old Shi'ite boy at a school in eastern Baghdad, told Santa he wants this year for the holidays: "I have one wish to ask Santa Claus. Please bring peace to my country. Stop the bombs so I can play with my friends again."

Santa - who spends the rest of the year disguised as a 48-year-old Chaldean Christian monastery administrator named Jalal Hourmoz - said he was delighted to spread joy after two years when sectarian violence made a merry Christmas impossible.

Kirkuk, IRAQ - Chaldeans have long begged the world to pay attention to the pillaging of Christians in Iraq. The Iraqi war drew devastating consequences to the Christian minority in the region. “A consequence overlooked by a beleaguered American administration in their haste to war,” says Rafid Yohanna, a Chaldean refugee aid worker. “We have been telling the world that Christian women are targeted and being raped and sold as slaves, men and young children kidnapped, held for ransom, and threatened with decapitation and death to fund terrorism in the war torn Iraq. They ignore us. They fear this war will be labeled a religious war. The terrorist group have already labeled this war a religious war. All this because America acted before thinking.”

While many considered the pleas of the peaceful Christian minority to be no different than the atrocities faced by their Muslim counterparts, new evidence says otherwise. “Now there is a smoking gun that is proof that Christians have been systematically attacked for no other reason that being Christian,” adds Yohanna.

Iraqi police in Kirkuk have captured four members of a criminal enterprise who specialized in kidnapping Christian doctors. Claims that the men have no link to terrorism or Islamic extremism are being challenged.

Michigan, USA - They have been forced to flee their home and country due to the Iraqi war. Many grieve over having to abandon their children or elderly parents and will remain emotionally scarred for life. Others are tortured and killed in violent conflict. Those that are able to find refuge from the killing in another country are treated inhumanely. They are still without food, water, shelter, medical or mental care, kept unemployed, uneducated, and alienated. They are what many consider locked into a living hell.

The Iraq war has ravaged more than 20,000 families – mostly Christians –persecuted and even murdered because of their religious beliefs says Basil Bakal, Chaldean Federation of America Adopt-A-Refugee Family committee chairman.

Many feel the United States have a responsibility to address the refugee crisis caused by the Iraq war and occupation. Current American policy denies any special American responsibility for Iraqi refugees although the entire world believes that the two million refugees are a bi-product of American actions in Iraq says Lavinia Limon. Limon is the former Director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement in the Department of Health and Human Service under the Clinton administration and current President and CEO of the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI).

Entire families, infants, children, young adults, and elders are left homeless, hungry, and in desperation. Paralyzed by fear and hurting for someone, somewhere to help the effort in rescuing and rebuilding their shattered lives.

California, USA - November 20th is National Family Volunteer Day. What better time to teach Chaldean children about charity and volunteering? Here are some ideas to put the whole family in the charitable spirit.

Adopt a Grandparent' and visit a local retirement home. The Chaldean community has a long and important tradition of respecting and caring for elders. Chaldeans in California often visit The Good Samaritan Retirement Center and Chaldean in Michigan visit the Chaldean Manor Senior Home. Both centers provide plenty of opportunities for Chaldeans to share their time and comfort others. Toddlers can come along to provide company and lots of hugs. Chaldean children can visit with residents and put on plays or skits, bring small crafts, or simply visit and reminisce.

Deshtetek, IRAQ – Chaldeans caught in the middle again after fleeing to the North of Iraq in hopes of peace. For several months now, Turkish forces have been shelling this rugged terrain from mountain bases, including a massive one perched above Deshtetek, in an effort to root out Kurdish guerrillas.

The last three women left this tiny hamlet on Monday, carrying no more than their clothes and prayers. They joined 250 villagers who fled in the past two weeks, locking their homes and their yellow church and driving away on a desolate road scarred by war. Only 11 men remain, their lands separated from Turkey by a thin, emerald river winding through a fertile valley.

During the rule of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party, Deshtetek's community of Chaldean Christians were forced from the region, their ancestral homeland, to Mosul and Baghdad. Two years ago, Chaldeans traveled back to the remote edge of northern Iraq to escape religious persecution and sectarian violence. Now, as the shelling intended for Kurdish terrorist guerrillas from Turkey intensifies, a familiar dread has returned to their lives.

Michigan, USA - It has turned out to be a community call-to-the-test. Chaldeans in Michigan have taken a firm stance against Miller brewing company. The South African company was recently put on notice by religious leaders to stop supporting hate groups. South African Brewery Miller, also known as SABMiller or Miller beer has been giving nearly $100,000 annually to the San Francisco Folsom Street Fair which encourages and promotes Christian mockery and hate.

A grassroots group of Chaldean community leaders have begun an active and aggressive campaign against Miller in hopes the multinational company will see the error of its way.

Michigan, USA - Chaldeans are outraged at the deliberate attack on Christians by San Francisco and the Homosexual Fair organizers. “This is a group that behaves appallingly and if anyone objects to their criminal behavior they call you intolerant and try to charge you for a hate crime,” says Brian Thomas about the fair. “These hypocrites mock and attack Christians with such violence and hate and yet no one in San Francisco cares to uphold the law. The fraudulent leaders of San Francisco have no values, no principals, and no idea of how harmful they are to the United States.”

Miller brewing company has come under immense pressure once the Catholic League exposed Miller’s support on the attack and hatred of Christians. The Catholic group called for a boycott of the Miller Brewing Co. after the beer giant failed to have its logo removed from a "gay"-festival promo mocking the iconic Last Supper scene of Jesus Christ and his disciples.

For Mike and Rita Setto, owners of Orion Keg and Wine Party Store, the constant attack on the Christian faith and family values from the media and support by corporations has gone much too far. In what seems to be a reenactment of David versus Goliath the small business owners were the first to toss Miller out of their establishment. The bold move has earned the faithful family thousands of calls, coverage by top news agencies, requests to be interviewed on radio and television, and visits from out-of-state customers congratulating the faithful duo for taking a stand.

Michigan, USA - The increasing disgust and hyper-sexualization in the media has one Chaldean scholar seeking answers. Phyllis Easter Jeden is a first-generation Chaldean-American born and raised in metro-Detroit. The pre-law student at Central Michigan University is perusing studies in International, Minority, and Human Rights Law.

Jeden, like most Chaldeans and Americans has grown increasingly concerned over television advertising portraying women as nothing more than sex objects. “I am appalled by some of the things that the media culture tries to mainstream and celebrate. This has hurt America and has undermined our ability to speak to the world about values. Just look at the amount of cleavage you see worn by younger and younger women (and girls) in the supermarket, on the bus, in church?”

Rather than sit idly by and adopt a hopeless attitude Jeden decide to act. In her recently published study Jeden tackles the impact of sexualization of women in media and how such efforts harm women. The study Rape, Women and International Law began as a response to such everyday irritants. However, the study quickly began revealing much more about the insidious sexualization of women in media and other mainstream venues in societies across the world.

Washington DC, USA - While Iraq’s most dreadful year of 2006 is still comparably safer than some of America’s most popular cities the Democratic leaders in congress still wish to surrender the conflict. Petraeus demonstrated a significant drop in violence since 2006 and still the Democratic leaders remained unconvinced of the need to stay in Iraq.

Mgr Rabban al-Qas, Chaldean bishop of Ahmadiya, in Northern Iraq, speaking a day after the US commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, began presenting his report to the Armed Services and Foreign Affairs committees of the US Congress on the impact of the recent surge of US troops in Iraq says progress has been made, but “A concrete solution to the Iraqi crisis must come from the people themselves, not from the barrel of the gun.”

Paris, FRANCE - After years of shunning involvement in a war it said was wrong, France now says it may help to bring peace in Iraq, proposing itself as an "honest broker" between the Sunni, Shi'ite, and Kurdish factions.

After meeting with the influential Chaldean Patriarch, Emmanuel III Delly, French world leaders talk of more active role in bringing peace to the war torn region. The persuasive and passionate Patriarch urged world leaders to assist in ending the ongoing violence in Iraq.

The world renowned Catholic leader is known for his diplomacy in Islamic and Christian affairs, as well as his understanding and leadership in Middle Eastern and Western cultural differences.

Jdeide, LEBANON- One-way exodus for Iraqi Christian families resigned to never returning to land of their ancestors.

Reduced to sneaking in the night across borders to escape and then moonlighting to survive, most Iraqi Christian families are resigned to never returning to the land of their ancestors.

"Under Saddam we lived in safety. At least we had our dignity and a decent life," said Duleir Nuri Sleiman, father of three girls, referring to Iraq's executed leader Saddam Hussein who ruled with an iron fist.

With his eyes on Europe or the United States for resettlement, Sleiman has reached the transit stop of Lebanon, filled with worries about health care, schooling and avoiding detention by immigration authorities.

The Chaldean family lives five to a spartan room above a barber's shop in the Christian suburb of Jdeide on the outskirts of Beirut, relying on his modest income as a painter and decorator.

Georgina, CAN - A Georgina man is in a desperate race against time to rescue his sister and her family from Baghdad, Iraq.

Described as the most dangerous city on Earth, Baghdad is torn apart by sectarian violence amid a wider civil war.

It is a city where how you worship God can literally get you killed.

Sam Taan, who operates the Daisy Mart in Sutton, said the urgency to get his sister, Ban, her husband Raad (their last names are withheld over safety concerns) and their two young sons, grew last month when Raad's brother Fatah was murdered by one of the many Islamic militias that prowl the city.

Recent bombings nearly annihilated two Yazidi villages, killing hundreds of this ancient angel-revering, Indo-European religious group. The single deadliest atrocity of the Iraq conflict, it was also the latest demonstration that Iraq's non-Muslims are in danger of extinction.

Sixty years ago, Iraq's flourishing Jewish population, a third of Baghdad, fled in the wake of coordinated bombings and violence against them. Today, a handful of Jews remain. Unless Washington acts, the same fate awaits Iraq's million or so Christians and other minorities. They are not simply caught in the crossfire of a Muslim power struggle; they are being targeted in a ruthless cleansing campaign by Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish militants.

This crime against humanity has gone unnoticed by the Bush administration and Congress. Iraq's Catholic Chaldean; Syriac Orthodox, Assyrian, Armenian and Protestant Christians; and smaller Yazidi and Mandean communities are seen as inconsequential. They don't sponsor terrorism, hold political power or have strong regional allies. Because they do not cause trouble, they are ignored.

Baghdad, IRAQ - Chaldeans in Iraq go on high-alert as word spreads that Islamic terrorists groups are aggressively targeting non-muslims in Iraq. The religious genocide by Islamic fanatics has taken a horrific and dreadful turn as over 500 Yazidi villagers were massacred this past week. Islamic leaders and followers in Iraq and around the world continue to remain silent, and by doing so send a message of approval.

The Tuesday bomb attack near Mosul is the latest in an onslaught of targeted killings against non-Muslims. Provincial authorities in Nineveh province fear that in addition to those already accounted for, another 200 people might still be buried in the rubbles left by the devastating truck bombings. Sources in Iraq warn that the multiple attacks are part of a wider plan that is likely to target Christian villages in the historically Christian Nineveh plain very soon.

The bombings are the deadliest since the war began in 2003. The coordinated operation involved five trucks filled with explosives that killed indiscriminately as body parts of men, women, and children were torn apart and shredded across the streets in a ghastly portrayal of Islam gone awry.

Michigan, USA - A peace rally organized by Chaldean community leaders adds to the growing discontent and lack of confidence in America’s effort to stabilize Iraq. Chaldeans gather in the heart of Southfield, Michigan to demonstrate their frustration. The large and influential Chaldean population in southeast Michigan says enough is enough.

The Chaldeans are all too familiar with the pains of persecution at the hands of fanatical Muslims. The continual attacks against the peaceful Catholic sect have echoed across the ocean as Chaldean family members receive word of abductions, torture, rape, and killings. Many voiced their concerns and shared their bewilderment at how poorly managed the war has been thus far.

Goettingen, Gergmany — While Iraq is constantly in world news reports the plight of Iraqi Christians goes mostly unnoticed. According to the Society for Threatened People in Goettingen, Germany, Iraq currently experiences the biggest persecution of Christians of our time.

In fear of murders, bomb-attacks, kidnappings, and torture Christians have been fleeing the country by the thousands.

Approximately 75 percent of the 650,000 Christians in Iraq have been driven from their homes. They have fled mainly to neighboring Syria or Lebanon.

A Christian community with a history of 2,000 years is in danger of becoming extinct, according to the human rights organization.

Michigan, USA - Michigan Chaldeans will be holding a peace rally on June 30, 2007 in hopes of drawing attention to the persecution of Middle Eastern Christians. This Saturday from 5 to 7 PM Chaldeans along with those opposed to the persecution and war in Iraq gather together to voice their concerns at the Southfield Civic Center in Southfield, Michigan.

California, USA - The Chaldean Committe for the the Human Rights of the Christians of Iraq will be holding a peace rally on Friday, June 15, 2007, in front of the federal building at 880 Front St., San Diego between 12 noon - 2:00 p.m.

The rally hopes to bring to the world’s attention the continuous oppression, inhumane and brutal treatment of Iraqi Christians. The Iraqi Christians are a daily target for kidnapping, bombing, assassination and other acts of violence because of their religion.

Mosul, Iraq - Another Chaldean Catholic priest and three church deacons were gunned down in Mosul, Iraq, on Sunday, June 3rd. Father Ragheed Ganni and three deacons from his parish-- Basman Yousef Daud, Wahid Hanna Isho, Gassan Isam Bidawed-- were slain after celebrating the Eucharistic liturgy on Sunday.

As the young priest and three deacons left the church their car was stopped by group of armed gunmen. Pointing their weapons in the car they slaughtered the four Catholics then rigged the car to explode should anyone attempt to remove the dead bodies. The horrific site remained for several hours until a police bomb-squad defused the devices.

Texas, USA - San Anonio reporter Todd Bensman produces a stunning account of the tenuous journey of one Chaldean family forced to leave Iraq under Islamist threats of beheading. The horrific tale of a young Chaldean family forced to abandon everything and to wander the world in fear with an infant and toddler. The Genocide of Christians in Iraq continues to fall on deaf ears as the world plays politics and abandons the peaceful native Iraqi Christians. Iraqi Christians are left to be slaughtered by Islamists or tortured for ransom money to fuel their insurgency.

The journey north from Guatemala through Mexico to the Texas border lasted 17 days. Finally, on the evening of Feb. 26, 2006, the young family of four saw the river come into view. Weary and beaten, with the baby starting to fuss, they drove right up to the Rio Grande.

George and his wife, Baida, were Iraq refugees. They fled their homeland for Detroit because Muslim extremists had made two things very clear: They didn't like the family's Christian faith, for one. But what was worse, to the Islamic gunmen prowling the neighborhood, were the sons' names, George and Toni, which seemed to lionize U.S. President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

The decision to hire a smuggler to get them to the United States was clinched after militants told George Sr., a milk delivery man, that he was next on the beheading list for being an "infidel Christian," and the people running the nursery that cared for the couple's two children while Baida, a hair stylist, was working became untrustworthy.

California, USA - In the life of every being that walks this planet, there is a purpose that is to be fulfilled before their time here is complete. Whether it be carrying out a career that may change the lives of many, creating a family of his own and protecting them, or just living a life that is alive with faith, hope and love… every mission is unique. It is vital in life to have confidence in understanding that the value of every accomplishment and deed done, be it big or small, is still so very great. For it is in the words of the Blessed Mother Theresa who proclaimed that, “Little things are indeed little, but to be faithful in little things is a great thing.”

Over in The Golden State, better known as California, a great man by the name of Gregory Acho is believed to have found what so many seek: their calling in life. But this calling, this purpose he prays to fulfill successfully, is not for his own pleasure, but is for people in his community that he yearns to reach out to and help by leading them to an improved stage in their life.

Acho, 30, founder of Conscious Contact, Inc., a non-profit sober living organization (rehabilitation clinic) are helping Americans overcome the strenuous process of staying sober. Acho adds that it is not as simple as it sounds, just “staying sober” or fighting an addiction, but that it is “[much] deeper than that. We provide support for each person to look within themselves and make contact, Conscious Contact, with who and what they have always been.”

Washington DC, USA - Chaldeans have always recognized the importance of information. As a persecuted community, getting the right information as soon as possible saved lives. To keep Chaldeans under control they were forced to wear the yoke of dhimmi, pushed into camps or small villages, and prohibited from organizing. Christians were seen as a threat if they organized.

“The American buffet of information may be coming to an end if Chaldeans fail to act and allow congress to pass Bill 984,” says Alexander Butros, a Chaldean political activist and attorney. “Congress is pulling another power play and sticking it to grassroots groups to keep them from voicing their concerns with this sham bill.”

Washington DC, USA – Chaldeans overwhelming applaud America’s Supreme Court's majority who has upheld the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003 that president Bush singed into law. Chaldean activists continue to fight hard alongside others throughout the world to stop the killing of babies. “Over 95% of abortions are performed out of social convenience. It is sad that the ignorant among us are being manipulated into killing their babies. We are the abolitionists of our time. We must protect the weak and innocent and stop those who believe these babies are not human,” says UCLA’s Right to Life student leader Susan Jajou.

Baghdad, IRAQ – “Get rid of the cross or we will burn your Churches.” This is the threat aimed at the Chaldean Church of Sts Peter and Paul, located in the ancient Christian quarter of Baghdad, Dora. Local sources say an unknown armed Islamic group is behind the threats which are inseminating terror in the capital. The website www.Ankawa.com and AINA news agency along with Asia News have reported a ravage and inhuman campaign of against Christians in the area. Even Mosul, a Sunni stronghold, the Christian presence is become grave.

The Islamic group active in Dora seems to have delivered an ultimatum to the Christian community there: convert to Islam or die!

Baghdad, IRAQ - Minority Rights Group International (MRG) releases their State of the World’s Minority’s 2007 report was released last week. The report highlights minority groups in Iraq, including Christians and women, as among the most vulnerable in the world.

Iraq is home to a shrinking indigenous population of Christian groups with Chaldeans composing only three percent of the 26 million people in the country.

The minority report cited the September-October UNAMI (United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq) report that noted a spike in violence against all Christians in Iraq, including churches and convents being attacked by rocket and gunfire and religious leaders being kidnapped and beheaded in October.

Michigan, USA - Police in Warren are searching for the vandals who sprayed messages of hate on St. Mary's Assyrian Church. The attack on the small Iraqi-Christian community comes just one month before the church is scheduled to open.

Beirut, LEBANON - Its procession of frond-waving believers, the singing and chanting, and the proud parents snapping photos of their princess-garbed daughters made the Palm Sunday celebration in the Beirut suburb of al-Fanar look like any of the hundreds occurring all over Lebanon. But after the service, the conversations among parishioners revealed the special nature of this community. Many of them spoke Arabic with heavy Iraqi accents — al-Fanar has become a magnet for Christian refugees from Iraq.

Damascus, SYRIA - The U.S. government’s religious freedom watchdog agency expressed serious concern about the growing refugee crisis in Iraq, highlighting the mainly Christian Chaldo-Assyrian community as one of the most vulnerable in the country.

In a letter this week, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) urged the U.S. government to take decisive action to allow Iraqi refugees to resettle with greater ease in the United States.

The Commission emphasized that more than 1.8 million people have been displaced from their homes inside Iraq and close to 2 million forced to seek refuge in other countries since the 2003 U.S.-led offensive.

Amman, JORDAN - Many Iraqis in Amman live the life of fugitives: They fear capture by police during the day, so they venture into the streets only at dusk, said a Catholic aid worker.

Several times a week Rama Erekat, 36, a case worker for Caritas Jordan's Extremely Vulnerable Individuals project, goes out with another social worker to visit families who have applied for assistance from Caritas, the local church's charitable agency. She said often she finds the families, many of whom are in Jordan illegally, holed up in their apartments, too fearful to go out during the day.

Vermont, USA - It was supposed to be practice. When he was through, Sean Burke said helping an Iraqi family find asylum in the United States opened his eyes to the world.

"We can turn our backs on these people, say they're lying, say they're just going to live off the system," he said. "That's ignorant."

Burke, 24, grew up in Castleton and graduated from Mount St. Joseph Academy in 2000. He is a third-year law student at Villanova. Late last year, he said he and another third year student represented a (Chaldean) family that fled Iraq and were caught at the U.S.-Mexico border with fake Greek passports.

Fallujah, IRAQ - Chaldeans are taking an active role in rebuilding Iraq. Although Chaldeans have been shut-out of the Iraqi government, that hasn’t stopped courageous Chaldeans from finding ways to rebuild the land they love. “This land is our father and mother. We were born from this ground. We have a bond with this land. We are the native people of this land for nearly ten thousand years,” says Ibtissam Halibu.

Halibu’s husband currently serves in the Iraqi government as a field engineer and is one of the nearly thousands of Chaldeans serving Iraq. Chaldeans are helping the U.S. Military and the Iraqi police bring peace to a nation torn by insurgents bent on creating instability and chaos.

Even though the U.S. Military receives little recognition for the redevelopment effort in Iraq, American Soldiers and Marines continue to risk their lives improving the quality of life for all Iraqi’s. “I have seen first hand of new schools, health clinics, and police stations being built everyday,” says Walid Poules, an engineer and construction contractor.

Ankawa, IRAQ – Kirkuk's Chaldean Archbishop Luis Sako shares his optimism and hopeful outlook while in attendance of three new Chaldean deacons in Ankawa, Iraq.

The humble and sacred ceremony took place in the Church of St. Joseph and was celebrated by Bishop Rabban Al-Qas, of Amadiyah and Erbil. Bishop Mikha Pola Maqdassi, of Alquoch, and Archbishop Luis Sako.

Archbishop Sako, shared his joy and prayer for peace in the region. The Archbishop also sadly shared the news of another kidnapping and the degrading welfare of Christians in the region. Ongoing persecution and killings have forced many Christians to leave Iraq. Radical Islamist subscribing to fundamental tenants of Islam continue to pilage Christian towns in the region.

Monterrey, MEXICO – Chaldeans forced to leave Iraq have few choices. As Christians in a country that continues to embrace radical Islam Chaldeans are fleeing by the hundred thousands. Rafid Bedou, frustrated and angry says, “What choices do we have? If we stay in Iraq they rape and torture our daughters and kill our sons. Iraq is turning into a living hell.”

KIRKUK, Iraq – Chaldeans persecuted by Muslims are abandoning their homes and fleeing to the northern plains of Iraq in massive numbers. The exodus of Christians from the intolerant Middle East has been ongoing and ignored for nearly five decades. The polarization of Shi’ite, Sunnis, Kurds, and the exodus of Christians is ripping Iraq apart.

The archbishop of Kirkuk warns that a division of Iraq will lead to more conflict, with Christians caught in the middle. Bishop Sako says, “A divided Iraq will not be a peaceful Iraq.” According to Bishop Sako, the current Iraqi government does not ensure peace. "For Sunnis, Shiite Iran is the main cause of their marginalization and for what is happening in Iraq," he said. "Shiites have taken power, but the current government has failed to achieve the desired reconciliation or to ensure peace."

The plight of Iraqi refugees is gaining American attention because of key Democratic leading senators like Carl Levin and Ted Kennedy. A Chaldean trucker testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Refugees. The subcommittee met on Tuesday to probe the issue of the plight of refugees from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Led by staunch supporter of refugee support, Democratic Senator Ted Kennedy the subcommittee highlighted the living causalities of war ignored by the Bush administration.

“The desperate situation in Iraq has created hundreds of thousands of refugees who are virtually unknown to the rest of the world,” Kennedy said. “We can’t continue to ignore their plight.”

Ankawa, IRAQ– A century old seminary has been forced to leave Baghdad. Under pressure of violence and continual attacks the Chaldean Seminary and Theological University was forced to close. Baghdad stands as the center of the civil strife in Iraq between violent Muslim Shi’ite and Sunni groups. Christians in the region have been forced to leave Baghdad after numerous killings, kidnappings, and torture of community leaders. As the capital of Iraq is being emptied of its Christians, property and land is being stolen by Sunni and Shi’ite militias.

Erbil’s Chaldean bishop, Mgr Rabban al-Qas, said that the doors to the Chaldean Major Seminary and Babel College, Iraq’s only theological faculty run by the Chaldean Church, have reopened in Kurdistan after shutting down because of the growing insecurity in the Iraq. The two institutions were in fact officially inaugurated last Thursday after moving from Baghdad to Ankawa, near Erbil, in Kurdistan.

Michigan, USA - The United States continues to come under criticism by humanitarian groups for ignoring their responsibility in providing for up to 3 million Iraqis displaced from their homes. American reputation and leadership continues to plummet among international leaders after continuing allegations of an illegal war against Iraq and ignoring the humanitarian crisis aftermath.

Echoing former US president Fords implication that the US may be liable for taking unfounded preemptive military action against Iraq, calls for a war tribunal against the US increases across the globe

Aid organizations report a rapidly mounting crisis of refugees inside Iraq and in neighboring countries as thousands flee sectarian violence every day. The United Nations estimates that there are more than 1.5 million Iraqis displaced within the country and a similar number living as refugees in Jordan, Syria and elsewhere.

The Michigan based Chaldean Federation of America (CFA) has been working tirelessly with US legislators to bring to light the crisis and need for support. The CFA has expressed positive working relations with legislatures like Democrat Senator Carl Levin but continues to run into obstacle after obstacle dealing with the State Department or White House administration.

BAGHDAD, IRAQ - Like other minority members in Iraq, Mardon Matrood, a 44-year-old Assyrian shopkeeper in Baghdad, has had enough of the country's sectarian violence.

"Minorities in Iraq are targeted by insurgents and militias, who want us out of the country as they promote what they call the 'cleansing of Iraq, of non-Muslim communities'," said Matrood who is living with his family of six in an abandoned government building.

Four months ago Matrood's family failed to pay a ransom of US $50,000 to kidnappers who had abducted his nephew. The nephew was later found dead.

"We are a poor family. We couldn't pay [the ransom money] and after two weeks we were informed that the police had found his body near a mosque in Adhamiyah district (northern Baghdad). It was totally mangled, burned and tortured," Matrood said.

Spiraling sectarian violence has threatened the decades-long peaceful coexistence in Iraq between members of different religions, sects and tribes. Now Sunni and Shi'ite extremists are targeting minorities in a bid to force them out of the country.

Shiite and Sunni imams in Kirkuk went in person to deliver Christmas greetings to the Chaldean archbishop, Mgr Louis Sako, in an atmosphere characterized by “sincere will of dialogue and mutual understanding”.

Michigan, USA – Chaldeans are applauding the good work of the Thomas More Law Center, a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The firm is appealing a federal judge's recent approval of a virulently anti-Catholic resolution passed by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel, a Carter appointee and one time counsel for the liberal extremist National Organization for Women (NOW). The Law Center is bringing to light the blatant abuse of power to deride the constitution.

Chaldean Lawyers have taken interest in how the San Francisco court system seems to have hijacked the rule of law for their personal agenda. The activisms say many legal scholars are appalling and ironically hypocritical.

Not surprisingly the activist judge Marilyn Patel ruled that the Board resolution condemning Catholic moral teaching on homosexuality and urging the Archbishop of San Francisco and Catholic Charities of San Francisco to defy Church directives does not violate the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution.

Baghdad, Iraq – Continual pleas for neutrality and safety by the indigenous people of Iraq have fallen on deaf ears. The Chaldean minorities remains targets by insurgents bent on destabilizing Iraq and turn the modern nation into a fanatic Islamic regime. Chaldeans are not only the targets of Islamic fundamentalist but also Kurdish, Shia, and Sunni militias that pick apart the minority group in order to claim their land or raise ransom money to fund their military groups.

“We have become pawns in this deadly game of chess that threatens to wipe out a people who have remained in Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq) for over ten-thousand years,” says Yousif Kanno a Chaldean antiquity historian.

ARBIL, Iraq -– Unknown assailants bombed the entrance of a Catholic church in Mosul last week, destroying three sets of doors as well as windows in the church, monastery and guest house.

A source near the church at the time of the November blast said that the explosion at 7 p.m. shattered the exterior iron doors of the Dominican Clock Church compound and flattened two sets of wood doors. The discharge ripped through the windows of the monastery chapel where Dominican priests were holding evening prayer.

No one was harmed in the blast.

“The whole area heard the explosion, it was so big,” said one eyewitness of the destruction, speaking to Compass Direct News on condition of anonymity the evening after the attack.

Baghadad, Iraq - Former medical volunteer in Iraq, Ramy Bakko shrugs and nods his head in confusion over the proliferation of the Red Cross emblem. “Evil works in small ways. Evil works to divide and conquer. These new Muslim Iraqi people want to take over our country.” Ramy Bakko was attacked for using Red Cross equipment in a Muslim country. “They say I should be a Red Crescent. I tell them I am, I show them my shirt and badge, they call me a spy and that I am to be killed. If not by God’s grace I would have been killed if one of the men did not recognize me for helping his child. They let me go free and say if I use a Red Cross they will spill my red blood.”

The Chaldean medical doctor serves for the international aid society that provides humanitarian aid during times of war. Often protected under the Red Cross or Red Crescent societies volunteers are called to help the injured. “I have no job so I try to help those who are hurt. I don’t care if they are Christian, Muslim, or Jew. I try to save a life. Because as you can see, my reward is one day my life will be saved.”

The Michigan chapter of the Chaldean Caucus presents the 2006 midterm election results. Other chapters of the Chaldean Caucus across America are submitting their results and will be posted on the community website.

The Chaldean Caucus will be holding voter registration drives, candidate recruitment, and information sessions for the Chaldean community. Please check with your local chapter for a schedule of events.

The Chaldean Caucus is a non-partisan organization with a mission of educating policy makers about Chaldeans and encouraging policies that support American Chaldeans.

The Michigan chapter of the Chaldean Caucus makes the following recommendations for the midterm elections for candidates and proposals that best support the Chaldean community, the state of Michigan, and America.

The Chaldean Caucus is an approved organization of the community website and will be posting policy related issues that impact the American Chaldean community on this website.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraq's High Tribunal on Sunday found Saddam Hussein guilty of crimes against humanity and sentenced him to hang for the 1982 killing of 148 Shiites in the city of Dujail. The visibly shaken former leader shouted "God is great!"

Saddam's half brother and former intelligence chief Barzan Ibrahim, and Awad Hamed al-Bandar, head of the former Revolutionary Court, were sentenced to join Saddam on the gallows for the Dujail killings after an unsuccessful assassination attempt during a Saddam visit to the city 35 miles north of Baghdad.

The death sentences automatically go to a nine-judge appeals panel which has unlimited time to review the case. If the verdicts and sentences are upheld, the executions must be carried out within 30 days.

Washington D.C., USA - Soaring violence against Christians in Iraq – including the alleged crucifixion of a teenage boy in Basra - has prompted the Catholic Church to call for a safe haven to protect minority groups as the country slides toward civil war.

The American Catholic bishops have also asked US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to grant asylum to hundreds of thousands of Iraqi Christians who have fled their homes to escape persecution.

American Catholics are stunned that the Democratic Party would stoop so low as to purposely mislead and manipulate Catholics about their faith and sacred teachings. The fake 'Catholic Voters Guide' Published by Former Aide to John Kerry attempts to recapture the hemorrhaging of Catholic voters rejecting the Democratic Party.

Chaldean Caucus member and former Democrat Wendy Jaberow, who became a Republican because of these sorts of underhanded and deceitful efforts, feels the Fake Catholic Voters Guide is another example of the shameful values the Democrats have embraced. “They believe that ‘any means necessary’ is justifiable for them to gain power. They have sold their souls to the devil.”

Michigan, USA - Students, family members, teachers, employees, and alumni of Marian high school are outraged. The all-girl private Catholic high school has come under attack by homosexual activists. “The gay people, TV, and newspapers want us to do something wrong and we will not. They talk too much about sex these people. This is sick of them. That is why I don’t want any of my children, nephews, nieces, or anyone I know to go to public school. They want you to believe that the way you behave is okay if you can make others say it is okay,” says Enam Bahoura, a Chaldean parent.

The nationally-acclaimed Catholic high school with a large enrollment of Chaldeans finds themselves under target of the local papers for teaching their religious convictions. Both the Detroit News and Detroit Free Press, owned by Gannett News ran what many in southeast Michigan feel are biased articles to promote the homosexual agenda.

Baghdad, Iraq - In an exclusive interview the Patriarch of the Chaldean Church, Emmanuel III Delly called Iraqis to be tolerant and full of love as he considered that the main reason behind youth emigration is the dramatic security situation. Delly underlined his rejection to any foreign interference in Iraqi internal affairs.

He invited the government to improve the citizens’ situation as he pleaded all clerics taking part in Mecca conference to spread the message of love in their parishes. Patriarch Delly was paying a visit to his parish in Lebanon after a brief stay in Vatican where he met Pope Benedict XVI.

www.CHALDEAN.org in conjunction with the American New York Times bring you a nationally acclaimed article on the plight of Iraqi Chrisitans. Special thanks goes to Mr. Wisam H. Habeeb and Khalid al-Ansary, Iraqi employees for The New York Times who helped encourage the story be told and were pinnacle in bringing a deeper understanding and meaning to the challenges Christians in Iraq face.

From Brenda S. to Michael L., I owe you one Mike – thanks for the professional courtesy.

Guest Reporter Michael Lou of the New York Times (New York, USA) reports:

BAGHDAD, Oct. 16 — The blackened shells of five cars still sit in front of the Church of the Virgin Mary here, stark reminders of a bomb blast that killed two people after a recent Sunday Mass.

In the northern city of Mosul, a priest from the Syriac Orthodox Church was kidnapped last week. His church complied with his captors’ demands and put up posters denouncing recent comments made by the pope about Islam, but he was killed anyway. The police found his beheaded body on Wednesday.

California, USA – A frequent road traveled by Chaldeans in California may see their cost of living and doing business take on another increase. A transportation policy committee endorsed a plan to raise minimum fees that solo commuters pay to use the Interstate 15 car pool lanes in off-peak hours.

Thomas Sitto is upset over the principle and not necessarily the fee. “I don’t mind having to pay for using the road, of all fees and taxes, I love the pay-to-use type taxes, but the reason for this tax is what upsets me. Government mismanagement is the cause and we have to pay for it. Their ineffectiveness is what created a deficit. Their solution is to make us, the people pay for their mistakes. In the real world, businesses have to learn to be leaner and provide better services and find creative ways to do more with less. With government it is just the opposite; their incompetence is rewarded by raising fees, taxes, and tolls. That is not right. Any official who votes for an increase in any tax or fee triggered by their incompetence should be tossed out on their rear.”

Interstate 15 serves as one of the major thoroughbass for many Chaldean travelers. The minimum rate for using the express lanes would rise from 50 cents to $1.25 under the proposal, a 150% increase. FasTrak users will also experience a huge jump in fees.

Mosul, Iraq – There were two new attacks against the parish of the Holy Spirit in Mosul in as many days. A convent of Dominican Sisters has also been struck. These are the most blatant signs of a campaign that aims to throw Christians out of Iraq. Then there is the problem of emigration, a problem afflicting also Shiites and Sunnis.

The Chaldean church of the Holy Spirit in Mosul appears to have become the target of a terror campaign. After attacks that took place at the end of September, a group of men opened fire on the place of worship on 4 and 5 October, injuring one of the guards who is currently in hospital.

The violence and continual attack on Christians have been ongoing. The parish of the Holy Spirit has been attacked since August 2004. As many Iraqi church figures have already claimed, the attacks are part of a twofold strategy.

California, USA – Chaldean Bushra Butres challenges the old guard of the Cajon Valley school board, which oversees a district of 28 elementary and middle schools in the inner city and more rural neighborhoods.

The Cajon Valley districty has a large population of Chaldeans and Assyrians but is poorly represented in school policy or understanding. Many in the community have long sought a qualified candidate to bring a unique perspective of the challenges new citizens in the Cajon Valley schools face. Many in the Chaldean community feel Butres is the right person for the job.

Castelgandolofo, Italy - Pope Benedict said on Sunday he hoped Iraq's Christian minority could continue to live in peace with the Muslim majority in a country where people of both religions faced tragedy on a daily basis.

The Pontiff, who has been trying to patch up relations with Muslims after a controversial speech last month, said Iraq had traditionally been a place of harmony between Muslims and Christians.

Benedict said the leader of Iraq's Chaldean Catholic Church visited him on Friday and told him of the "tragic reality faced every day by the dear population of Iraq where Christians and Muslims have lived together for 14 centuries as children of the same land.

Califoria, USA -- Chaldean attorney, Kevin Najor reports that the House passed a bill yesterday that would bar judges from awarding legal fees to the American Civil Liberties Union and similar groups that sue municipalities for violating the Constitution's ban on government establishment of religion.

“Many of these organizations are simply trying to intimidate and use activist judges as a way to raise money for their personal causes. Many attorneys are outraged at groups like the ACLU and other similar organizations that have become the strong arm of reckless causes.”

Mosul, Iraq – Attackers launch rockets against the Chaldean Church of the Holy Spirit. No one is injured. The group that targeted the church is likely the same that fired shots at the building last Sunday.

Once again the Catholic Chaldean Church of the Holy Spirit is the target. This morning a group of men fired rockets against the building, whilst an explosive devise was detonated outside a usually unused entrance door, this according to local sources who also told AsiaNews that no one was killed or hurt in the incident. They also suggested that the attackers might be the same people who on Sunday fired some 80 shots against the church breaking some windows and causing minor damage.

For months, tensions have been rising in Mosul, a Sunni stronghold. Some people have suggested that the anti-Christian attacks are linked to the controversy caused by the Pope’s speech in Regensburg (Germany). In fact, some flyers making anti-Christian threats were distributed around town last Friday, calling on Christians to condemn the Pope’s remarks or be killed and see their churches burnt down.

Baghadad, Iraq -- A Chaldean and Assyrian churche is attacked in Mosul and Baghdad by Muslim militias. The fanatics have forced Christians to pin up posters condemning the words of Benedict XVI in Regensburg. But religious leaders, including al Sistani, have expressed their friendship with the Apostolic Nunciature. And the representative of the Iraqi Shiite leader would like to meet the pope.

The start of the month of Ramadan in Iraq was marked by violence but also by significant openness by al Sistani towards the Vatican. Yesterday, two churches, one in Baghdad and another in Mosul, were struck. Recently, the country has seen an escalation of attacks against Christians, thought by some to be the reaction of radical Muslims to the speech of the pope in Regensburg. However, religious leaders, among them al Sistani, have shown solidarity and understanding towards the Vatican. Moreover, the representative of the highest religious exponent of Iraqi Shiites has expressed the desire to be able to visit the Pope.

Who says the world lacks leaders? After again expressing his "respect" for Islam, Pope Benedict XVI at his weekly Vatican audience two days ago moved one of his knights forward on the global chessboard of Islamic politics.

Amid amped-up security in St. Peter's Square, the pope said: "I trust that after the initial reaction, my words at the University of Regensburg can constitute an impulse and encouragement toward positive, even self-critical dialogue both among religions and between modern reason and Christian faith."

Setting aside the impeccable understatement of "the initial reaction"--churches torched world-wide--it is close to thrilling in a world of persistent confusion about the intentions of contemporary Islam to see the pope step forward, not back, and speak without apology on behalf of "modern reason."

ISTANBUL, Turkey - A Turkish court has acquitted a prize-winning author of charges of insulting the nation in a book about the massacres of Armenians, Assyrians, and Chaldeans during World War I, saving the government from a fresh embarrassment in its bid to join the European Union.

The acquittal of Elif Shafak came in the opening hearing of her trial Thursday, held in a cramped courtroom in central Istanbul under tight security in case of violence by nationalist protestors.

The judges based their decision on a lack of evidence to prove that Shafak, 35, "denigrated the Turkish national identity" in remarks by fictional Armenian characters in her best-selling novel "The Bastard of Istanbul" or "Baba ve Pic" (The Father and the Bastard) in Turkish.

Michigan, USA — When Mark Samano moved to the United States from Iraq in 1980, he dedicated himself to learning 10 words in English every day. Within three months, he could speak the English language. Within six months, he was teaching math classes in English for Detroit Public Schools.

Samano heads the Hazel Park School District’s foreign language classes now, and said that every immigrant should take the time to learn English if they want to be an American.

“When we come to this country we have to master English,” said Samano. “If we don’t, forget it. You’re living in a Third World country.”

Renown professor, lawyer, and author Gabriel Sawma who specializes in international law, mainly the European Union Law, the Middle East and Islamic Shari’a Laws offers insight in the current affairs of Muslims outraged over the Popes Comments.

Professor of Aramaic and a recognized authority on Islam. Sawma is the author of a book titled, “The Qur’an: Misinterpreted, Mistranslated, and Misread. The Aramaic Language of the Qur’an”, available on amazon.com. He has also authored many articles on the Aramaic influence in Biblical Hebrew and in the Quran. Sawma speaks, reads, and writes Aramaic, Arabic, and Hebrew.

In a meeting with representatives of science in Germany on September 12, 2006, Pope Benedict XVI quoted a short segment of a dialog between Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Paleologus and an educated Persian.

As a result, segments of Muslim community around the world demonstrated and demanded an apology from the pontiff. They argue that Islam did not use the sword to convert people. They also stated that Islam is a “peaceful religion”. Some demanded that the pope be executed.

This article gives background about the Islamic conquest of the Middle East and parts of Europe.

Michigan, USA -- "Poor uneducated Muslims are led blindly into ongoing violence and outrage is coached by irresponsible leaders," says Bashar Sitto. “Moderate and modern Muslims seem to have lost control to the radical fundamentalists who have hijacked Islam.”

For the oppressed minority Christians in the Muslim dominated governments, like the Chaldeans of Iraq, fear runs high as they remain vulnerable to potential acts of violence of fanatical Muslims stirred to act with hatred.

Supported by irresponsible media bent on sensationalizing the news and highlighting a Muslim-Christian divide even where one does not exist, only contribute to the grave state of sectarian relations in Iraq today.

The world remains stunned at the easy manipulation and hypersensitivity of Muslims, who refuse to accept the Pope’s academic discussion and focus on a quote taken out of context. Iraqi religious scholar Abdel Hussam Hussain feels the Islamic governments are at risk as more fanatical elements gain control of interpreting Islam. Hussain feels the threat of an eventual overthrow of current Islamic are in grave danger.

California, USA -- B.E. was hoping for a call about a house-painting job. Instead, the Iraqi immigrant living in El Cajon heard his sister's voice, with terrible news from Baghdad.

A family member had been abducted by masked gunmen demanding a $30,000 ransom.

Kidnapping is nothing new in Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime, but lately there's a new twist: Some of the targets are Iraqi Christians likely to have family members in the United States or Europe who can pay to save them.

B.E. – who insists on anonymity because of concern for his family – began frantically seeking help from relatives and friends in El Cajon. Family members in Chicago, Detroit and Europe did the same

Michigan, USA -- Iraq's U.S. Ambassador Meets With U.S. Chaldean Community Leaders

Iraq's Ambassador to the U.S. is meeting with Chaldeans and other Iraqi-Americans in metro Detroit, urging them to support U.S. efforts in Iraq.

"It's important to persuade the American public and American government not to abandon Iraq at this stage," Ambassador Samir Sumadaie said in an interview Friday at the Westin Hotel in Southfield. "Abandoning it would turn it into a failed state and create a huge amount of terrorism and destruction in Iraq."

Sumadaie, a Sunni Muslim, met with Chaldeans, Iraqi Catholics, at a church in Southfield on Friday, and is expected to meet with Iraqi Shiite Muslims in Dearborn on Saturday.

Baghdad, Iraq – Sources close to www.CHALDEAN.org have confirmed the release of a Chaldean priest Fr. Saad Sirop. The priest was kidnapped nearly a month ago. The Chaldean Patriarch had held recent meetings with the president of Iraq. Rome had also sent numerous appeals to Iraq requesting increased efforts to free the priest.

Fr Saad Hanna Sirop, 34 years, was kidnapped by a gang of criminals shortly after Vespers Mass on 15 August. The young priest, ordained in Rome in 2001, is in charge of the theological department of Babel College, the country’s only university of Christian religious studies, in Baghdad.

California, USA -- Mayor Allan Mansoor and fellow City Council members hope two $10,000 rewards for information leading to the arrest of those responsible for last month's two drive-by shootings will help police solve the crimes.

This week, the council approved offering the rewards.

The shootings occurred about two weeks apart, within a half a mile of each other.

Michigan, USA -- Residents of Northville, Michigan are overjoyed at the new sports field and community park playground.

Northville Township Supervisor Mark Abbo graciously thanked residents for supporting the land acquisition and development of the sports field and playground. Residents approved the land acquisition and development mileage that paid for the park's $4 million price tag.

Abbo had a chance to share his excitement as he kicked the first soccer ball onto the field. "Anything worthwhile is never easy," Abbo said to reporters. The 242-acre park used to be empty space. Now it includes a playground, a dog park, one practice soccer field, five soccer fields and two lacrosse fields.

Iraq, Baghdad — There is mounting international concern among historical and antiquity scholars that Iraq ministers may try to change their history. The “cradle of civilization” has been a fountain of information to the world, divulging archaeological secrets going as far back as ten thousand years.

Scholars are worried that the appointment of religiously conservative Shiite Muslims throughout Iraq’s traditionally secular archaeological institutions will threaten the preservation of the country’s pre-Islamic history.

Sumerian, Akkadian, Chaldean, Assyrian, Babylonian, Parthian, Sassanian and a lineage of other civilizations are at threat to be lost forever. Ongoing looting, and what some fear to be intended efforts to remove pre-Islamic history, continues at archaeological sites throughout Iraq.

Dr. Donny George’s recent departure as chairman of the State Board of Antiquities and Heritage, and his flight to Syria with his family, is among the latest results of a transformation that began in December when a Shiite-dominated government was elected in Baghdad.

Indicative of the Taliban regime destroying historic antiquities in Afghanistan many scholars fear that Iraqi fundamentalist Islamists plan to do the same. “They are bringing their family and their tribes and giving them high jobs. They are not qualified. They are not trained or believe in what they do or what is right for Iraqi history,” says Selwa Marpouls, a Chaldean archeologist who has worked for the former ministry. “This is very bad. Iraqi history will be changed forever if something is not done.”

Efforts by the Chaldean eparchy have been tireless in lobbying the Iraqi government to provide protection to the Christian minorities in Iraq. The recent kidnapping of Fr. Saad has only underscored the contestant threat and vulnerability the native inhabitants of Iraq continue to face.

Fr. Saad Sirop, a Catholic priest at St. Jacob in Dora, Baghdad was kidnapped, tortured, and is being held for ransom.

ISTANBUL, Turkey – Chaldeans, Assyrians, and Armenians have long called for Turkey to accept responsibility for the slaughter of minorities. Unprotected and left ravaged by the Turks over a million were murdered.

Turkey has stubbornly refused to participate in any investigation or address concerns by the European Union regarding the genocide. Turkey, a Western ally and NATO member has long moved counter to inherent democratic principals. Now Turkey has turned to trample on the inherent freedoms of expression by putting on trial one of Turkey’s leading authors who boldly calls for the Turkish government to reveal the truth.

Elif Shafak, one of Turkey's leading authors, is about to have a baby — and go on trial. The reason for this strange conjunction of joy and foreboding is her new novel, which has exposed her to a charge of "insulting Turkishness" because it touches on one of the most disputed episodes of her country's history — the massacres of Chaldeans, Assyrians, and Armenians during the final years of the Ottoman Empire.

Michigan, USA - Chaldean entrepreneur Mark Garmo has always found ways to meet the needs of his customers.

Mr. Garmo, professes a passion for customer service and his recent appeal before the Grosse Pointe Farms proves just that. Village Food Market shoppers can still expect to be greeted by displays of produce and flowers around the store’s Mack entry.

London, UK - “Would Europe allow a country to join the union if it stubbornly denies the facts of a Jewish Holocaust,” says Suhala Yohannan, a Chaldean activist fighting to educate Europe of the atrocities and danger of Turkey’s denial. “For healing to take place, for the sake of understanding, the EU must reject Turkey’s bid if they continue to hide and deceive. They refuse to be true partners and embrace core democratic principals.”

Turkey continues to snub Europe and their calls for reform. European MPs have criticized Turkey's slow pace of reform and said it should recognize the massacre of Armenians, Assyrians, and Chaldeans in 1915 as genocide before joining the EU.

Virgina, USA - Joseph Kassab, head of the Chaldean Federation of America, met Aug. 25 for the sixth time this year with officials from the State Department to press the case to allow Chaldeans -- Iraqi Christians -- fleeing their homeland to emigrate to the United States.

Baghdad, Iraq – Chaldeans around the world remained stunned at the escalating violence in Iraq and the boldness of kidnappers to take hostage Chaldean priest, Rev. Hanna Saad Sirop. Christians continue to remain targets as Muslim groups hope to drive the minority population out of the region.

The Rev. Hanna Saad Sirop, who is director of the Theology Department at Babel College, was abducted Aug. 15 as he left Mass celebrating the Assumption holiday.

California, USA – Chaldeans have kept a close eye regarding the ongoing battle to remove the 29-foot cross atop the Mount Soledad Veterans Memorial in San Diego. While many feel the Veterans Memorial is safe, for now, atheist litigants, democrats, and activist judges want it torn down.

“Chaldeans are surprised as to how far apathetic and politically mute American Christians have become,” says Neil Romaya a Chaldean attorney watching the case closely. “Chaldeans are more sensitive to the slippery slope of ongoing Christian persecution, given their struggles in the Middle East. I guess they can see the writing on the wall much clearer than the Christians in America who have seen their faith ridiculed and rooted out from schools, public discussions, publications, businesses, and at times even in private.”

Sweepstakes scams are among the most common consumer frauds, according to the Federal Trade Commission. These types of frauds play heavily on Chaldean immigrants due to their limited English skills. However, these sorts of scams are on the rise in the U.S. and becoming cleverer in defrauding consumers.

Prize and sweepstakes complaints made up 7% of the 685,000 or so consumer complaints filed with the FTC in 2005, up from 5% in 2003. U.S. consumers lose millions of dollars to sweepstakes fraud each year. The FTC responded to inquiries made by www.CHALDEAN.org that, “no data is collected on the impact of sweepstake fraud on immigrants or native born Americans with limited English speaking skills.”